Intellectual Property Bill [HL]

Viscount Younger of Leckie Excerpts

Tuesday 30th July 2013 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

1: Clause 13, page 12, line 19, after “person” insert “—
(a) ”

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Viscount Younger of Leckie)]

My Lords, on Report we had further detailed debates about the introduction of criminal sanctions for the deliberate copying of a registered design. Noble Lords raised various issues intended to refine and improve the way the sanction operates. The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, while opposing the principle of the criminal sanction, nevertheless sought to ensure that certain activities clearly fell outside the sanction. He said:

“However, should the proposal be approved, we think that the Bill should also contain a defence for any person who reasonably believed that they were not infringing”.—[Official Report, 23/7/13; col. 1181.]

To that end, both he and the noble Lord, Lord Young of Norwood Green, proposed an amendment on Report which sought to address this issue.

Over the past few weeks, my officials and I have had a number of detailed discussions with stakeholders, including members of the International Chamber of Commerce, the IP Federation and the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys about the scope and operation of the proposed criminal sanction. I have listened very carefully to their concerns and to the concerns voiced by Members of this House. I am pleased to bring forward this amendment, which the Government believe goes to the heart of the concerns raised.

As noble Lords will be aware, it has always been the Government’s clear aim that the offence should be directed to blatant and intentional copying of a design that belongs to another. In this regard, the Government remain concerned to ensure that the offence is properly focused on wrongful business behaviour and so minimises any potential chilling effect on businesses which operate legitimately.

It is important that those who have acted diligently and decently, doing their best not to infringe the rights of others, should not have cause to cease innovating lawfully, simply for fear of falling foul of the offence. Consequently this amendment introduces to the existing defence of non-infringement a further defence of reasonable belief that the design in question was not infringed. This defence is dependent on facts within the defendant's own knowledge: his state of mind, the reasons why he held the belief in question and materials he can furnish to support that belief. It will help to ensure that the courts are able to reach a just and fair outcome in such cases.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

My Lords, I echo the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, to the extent that he has welcomed the Minister’s constructive response to some of the issues raised by my noble friends on the Front Bench and myself in Committee and on Report on the matter of the criminal offence. More broadly, perhaps I may I express my appreciation of the Minister’s scrupulousness and fair mindedness in the way he has responded to a range of issues raised by noble Lords throughout the various proceedings on the Bill. I thank him for that.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

My Lords, I am grateful for the contributions to this short debate on the government amendment of the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson and Lord Howarth, and my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones. I should say to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, that I have long since realised that as intellectual property Minister I cannot please everyone all of the time. I am certainly aware of the opposition from certain quarters, including CIPA, to the criminal sanction aspect of the Bill.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank, in particular, the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara and Lord Young of Norwood Green, who have put their names to the amendment, for their collegiate and constructive approach. I also extend my thanks to those Members on all sides of the House who have taken part in the debates on the Bill. I am grateful for the detailed consideration that they have included in this process, both inside and outside the Chamber. The House has engaged in its role of proper scrutiny, improvement and revision and the Bill which is being sent to the other place is greatly improved. I would also like to put on record my thanks to my Bill team and other officials for their expertise and support throughout this process.

The amendment clarifies the scope of the criminal offence further and provides greater security and confidence to the UK’s designers. I commend it to the House.

Amendment 1 agreed.

Moved by

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

2: Clause 13, page 12, line 19, at end insert “, or
(b) reasonably believed that the person did not do so”