The New Zealand government backed down from plans to allow the patenting of computer programs in the face of fierce opposition from the high-tech industry, which feared it would be opened up to harassing lawsuits from foreign multinationals. Commerce Minister Craig Foss released a supplementary order paper to the Patents Bill currently before Parliament, which clearly stated that computer programs should not be patentable. However, the main opposition Labour Party called it a humiliating back down from plans that had caused uproar in the country’s burgeoning IT industry and threatened to smother innovation.