Intellectual Property Bill [Lords]
Debate between Iain Wright and Gerry Sutcliffe(10 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Sutcliffe
My hon. Friend will be aware of the report by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on creativity and innovation, which highlights the importance of the book industry. Will he speak about the concerns of the book industry about the role of Google, whose representatives have visited the Prime Minister’s office 17 times in the past two years?
Mr Wright
I thank my hon. Friend for that question, but where does he think I am getting these statistics, if not from his Committee’s report? It showed the important role that creative industries play in our economy in providing well-paid jobs, innovation and investment in the country. It also mentioned the tension between content companies and technological companies. My hon. Friend mentioned Google, and I seem to remember reading in the transcript of his Committee’s proceedings that the IP Minister, Viscount Younger, said that he finds it more difficult to get into No. 10 Downing street to meet the Prime Minister than the representatives of Google. Perhaps that needs to be dealt with.
In the Committee’s report on that excellent review of the UK creative industries, my hon. Friend and other hon. Members stated:
“Given the importance of the creative sector to the UK economy and the relative importance to that sector of strong IP protection, strongly enforced, the Government must do more to protect and promote UK IP as a system for growth.”
It would be wrong, however, to think of IP as confined only to the creative industries. High-value manufacturing is dependent on innovative design.