We're unlikely to become like New Zealand with regard to software patents. Its easy for New Zealand to not recognize software patents categorically, its not a major export for them. It is for the US and that's going to carry a lot of weight with policymakers.

That said, I think what Judge Moore calls a "narrow" exception to patentability needs to become bigger. It shouldn't be possible to recite some basic boilerplate and patent an abstract idea so long as you tie it to a specific hardware platform. I think this ruling helps set the stage for a reasonable decision by the Supreme Court on the issue, in the vein of its very measured patent jurisprudence over the last decade.

Is software patent licensing a major export? Software exports certainly are. How much revenue is lost by our industry because of patents? More than is gained by the exporters of patent licenses I would think.

Licensing isn't a major export, but products that are made harder to copy with patented software technology. The algorithms implemented on a DSP in a cell phone baseband are also subject to software patents. Also, think of something like Google's (patented) self driving car algorithms.

We've lost our competitive edge in manufacturing due to cheap overseas labor. The future of our economy is going to be IP and services export.

Well, to be fair, independent invention doesn't matter for patents ... you aren't exporting as much as claiming what they invented as your own and exporting a license to use it.