Re: Unfortunately...
Perhaps you miss my point.
Having worked in NZ as an embedded software developer for over 20 years, every product I have worked on has ended up being exported.
NZ is a very tiny market. Almost none of the software developed in NZ is only going to be shipped within NZ (except for stuff like custom database applications for an NZ-only retial chain or a government body - stuff that will typically not be subject to any patents). Anything else (ie stuff that will have to be exported at some stage) will still have to be free of patent infringements otherwise it can't be sold overseas and is not worth developing.
Let's for example say I work on the design of a nifty new NZ designed and manufactured washing machine that uses an SD card and uses FAT file system to log washing info Two fingers up to MS and their dumb FAT patent... yes, we'll show them.... Except that 95% of those washing machines get exported - mostly to patent honouring countries. MS will block the sale of that product. outside NZ.
So, again, it might seem all David vs Goliath, but it really isn't. As a software developer I still have to honour the patent laws of the markets my product sells into and no NZ manufacturer only manufactures for the NZ market.
Thus, for practical reasons, this is just a token gesture. It really has no impact on software development in NZ.
At least with NZ's other ground-breaking laws (gay marriage etc), some people get to change their lives because only the domestic situation matters.
This patent law means nothing until the major markets come on board.
NB Again, I am not saying this was a dumb decision, just that it has no practical impact.