The Maori Internet Society says if an American company wins a bid to trademark library cataloguing software as "Koha" it would be a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The New Zealand developers of Koha, Catalyst IT, took US company PTFS-LibLime to an appeal hearing last Thursday, after the Intellectual Property Office granted it the rights to trademark Koha two years ago.
The software was designed to provide a free, open-source database for libraries, which is why it was called Koha.
Maori Internet Society spokesperson Karaitiana Taiuru says Te Reo is taonga, protected by Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
He says the trademarking of a Maori word by an international organisation is essentially stealing the language.
Mr Taiuru says the Maori Trademark Advisory Committee needs to be strengthened to better protect the language.
