Intellectual Property Bill [Lords]

Martin Horwood Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak briefly on Second Reading this afternoon. Given the enormous contribution of the creative industries to the economy and growth of the UK, the Bill is long overdue. The design industry is worth £33.5 billion or 2.2% of gross domestic product, employing some 350,000 people in the UK.

A recent survey of designers found that 59% had suffered from design copying, but only 32% took a case to court. Copyright infringement costs £775 million every year—5% of the total value of UK design investment—while global patent processing delays cost £7.6 billion annually. We must not forget that intellectual property is not important only to the big multinationals, major record labels or Hollywood studios; it is vital, too, for hundreds of thousands of small, medium and even micro-businesses delivering jobs and growth in every region of the UK.

The Bill seeks to introduce some changes in the field of patents and design law, something that we should warmly welcome. Clause 13 introduces a new criminal offence of intentional infringement of a registered design, bringing the law into line with copyright and trademarks. Unfortunately, although this is a welcome move, the vast majority of designers, many of whom are individuals or micro-businesses, rely on unregistered rights, as several hon. Members have said. Approximately 4,000 designs are registered each year with the Intellectual Property Office, while between 18,000 and 25,000 unregistered designs were lodged on the ACID—anti-copying in design—data bank last year, yet there are only 1,100 members. The vast majority of designers rely on unregistered rights, so if we really want to make this legislation effective, it should be amended to cover unregistered, as well as registered, rights.

I support clause 21, which introduces a duty on the Secretary of State to report annually on how the activities of the Intellectual Property Office have supported innovation and growth in the UK. This is a welcome improvement, but amendments were introduced in the other place to try to ensure that it is a genuinely effective provision in the interests of the traditional creative sector. I seek reassurances from the Minister that consideration will be given to bringing forward similar amendments in Committee to address those concerns.

It is disappointing that the Government have missed an opportunity to tackle a number of other issues around intellectual property, which the other place highlighted, that could helpfully be remedied through the Bill. These issues would benefit from further discussion and examination as the Bill progresses through the Commons.

First, the Bill should increase the maximum penalty for digital copyright theft to bring it into line with the available maximum penalty for physical copyright theft. Criminal offences for online copyright theft have a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment. Criminal offences for physical copyright theft have a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. This discrepancy has existed since 2003, when new online offences were introduced via secondary legislation as part of the UK’s implementation of the copyright directive, using the European Communities Act 1972. The recent Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee report recognised that that inconsistency needed to be addressed, and the Minister in the other place agreed to have another look at it.

[Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)]

I strongly support what my hon. Friend is saying about the importance of the digital realm. Publishers like Edward Elgar Publishing in my constituency, which is successfully shifting its publishing increasingly into digital format, feel that the whole issue of digital piracy needs to be tackled. Does my hon. Friend agree that it needs to be tackled on an international basis, and that tackling only the domestic situation is only half the battle?