A Wellington IT company and a library trust has successfully opposed a United States software firm from trademarking the name "Koha" in this country.
Te Horowhenua Trust commissioned a company called Katipo the development of a new library management for use in Horowhenua public libraries in 1999. The trust decided to make this software, named Koha, free and open-source.
It has been picked up by libraries across the world, translated into at least 30 languages and won a number of awards.
In 2007, a US-based company called LibLime bought a division of Katipo and created another version of the library software in 2009 called "LibLime Koha".
In 2010, LibLime applied to register a trademark for the name "Koha" in New Zealand. This was opposed by Te Horowhenua Trust and Wellington company Catalyst IT.