Intellectual Property Bill [HL]
Debate between Lord Borrie and Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville
Lord Borrie
Perhaps I may pursue this a little further. At Second Reading, I raised the point that in terms of intellectual property the grant of copyright or the grant of registered or unregistered design can result in a big improvement in competition. It encourages creativeness and innovation and it encourages the emergence of new competition. On the other hand, competition generally—meaning competition of new and old, old and new—surely means, to re-emphasise the point made by my noble friend Lord Howarth, that if because of the 15 years or any other substantial period general competition is confined and there is no competition for a particular design or copyright area, then the period is too long. In all the studies that have been made, including Hargreaves and so on, I wonder whether the rather vital matter of whether it should be 15 or 10 years or whether it should be so many months has been considered and reconsidered afresh in order to see how applicable these periods of time are for the future.
Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville
My Lords, in pursuance to what my noble friend said immediately before the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, intervened, would it be possible, in the interests of completeness, if all those who are currently present in Grand Committee were to get a copy of the letter that my noble friend sends to the noble Lord, Lord Howarth?
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
Debate between Lord Borrie and Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville
Lord Borrie
My noble friend Lord Whitty has made a most useful point. There is no doubt at all that this Bill, and this part of the Bill, is a convenient vehicle. Governments often look for convenient vehicles to do things that they have already decided to deal with. In this case that may not be so, but I suggest that if it seems convenient to the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, I have no doubt that it will seem convenient to some members of the Government.
I think that what we on this side of the Committee this afternoon are saying is that we are not worried about particular words in an amendment, and we are not expecting the Minister to accept these particular amendments. However, we are expecting the Minister to take this back to his people with higher pay rates than he has, and indeed to the Ministry of Justice and all the other departments that are probably interested in this subject, because plurality of the media is vitally important. It is a public interest concept beyond competition. It is subsidiary to competition, in a sense. We want competition because we want plurality. We want plurality because we want diversity of opinions throughout the industry. The Bill is a convenient opportunity to deal with an aspect of Leveson which, I am sure, is not the most controversial at all—but it happens to be with us, and it happens to be on the Government’s agenda. There also happens to be a Report stage and a Third Reading at which he can take this further.
Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville
My Lords, knowing the nature of this Government and the fact that not everyone in it is paid, I wonder whether before my noble friend the Minister gets up, he could tell us whether he has a pay grade at all. If he does not then, quite clearly, he has an all-inclusive alibi against anything which is said to him from the opposite side.