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Intellectual Property Rights

My Lords, I was going to come to that issue shortly, but perhaps I may help the noble Lord immediately. This has been an issue since 1994 when the Trade Marks Bill was enacted. Since then, it has not been enforced because a government regulation states that if more jobs are referred to trading standards, matching resources must be put into them. We are trying again to talk to all the relevant stakeholders to find a solution to this situation. I hope that we can bring forward legislation that allows us to put in the extra resources and make certain that the Act is enforced. It is a totally unsatisfactory situation. It has been going on since 1994 and it is about time that we brought it to a conclusion. To reiterate, the Government have set up the Creative Industries Forum on Intellectual Property. One of its working groups has been examining IP enforcement issues; another group has looked at better education about, and communication of, IP messages. We welcome the care with which these industry-chaired working groups have investigated these extremely important subjects. The forum has therefore done some useful work in these areas which we will be taking forward in the future. The Government will soon provide a response to the detailed recommendations that these working groups have produced. However, many of the recommendations on IP crime are linked to the work within the framework of the IP crime strategy. I am happy to announce that we will be establishing a subgroup of the IP crime group specifically for the creative industries, so that they have a voice at the heart of our strategy. However, not all infringements of copyright can, or should, amount to a crime. Most people agree that a different response is needed to deal with online infringement. The promotion of a better understanding of copyright, and the impact of this illegal activity on creators, many of whom are struggling artists at the beginning of promising careers, is one approach to online infringement. The education and communication working group of the forum has identified the need to ensure that messages are positive and empowering, relevant to people’s lives, and not just negative and piracy-focused. We are looking very carefully at how we can take account of these ideas as we develop and expand our IP education programmes. In our manifesto, we also made a commitment to modernize copyright and intellectual property regimes. Our IP regime must, of course, be fit for a digital age,   providing an appropriate and fair balance between the interests of different stakeholders. Creators, entrepreneurs and creative industries must be able to invest, knowing that they will be able to get a proper reward for their investment. This manifesto commitment was inspired by our concern that business opportunities, dependent on content protected by IP, are maximised for the benefit of all in the IP value chain. We are therefore delighted that the work that was started by the industry-chaired business opportunities working group of the Creative Industries Forum will be continuing. As this work continues, one of the most important issues facing those who are trying to maximise the benefits of new technology for the creative economy is the scope for using digital rights management. This can enable exciting new uses of protected content, while keeping it secure and deterring or preventing illegal use, such as online infringement. Apple’s iTunes is just one example of effective use of digital rights management. It is relatively hidden, so most users will never notice the restrictions on use. As a means of giving consumers what they want in attractive new ways, digital rights management has much more to offer than we have seen so far. But issues such as interoperability and technical standards for digital rights management and other technologies and devices need to be considered. We will be carefully monitoring how this work develops and considering whether any other IP issues should be explored or addressed. As part of its response to the manifesto commitment, the Department of Trade and Industry will be working very closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on a new project looking at intellectual property issues. Along with my honourable friend the Minister for Creative Industries, James Purnell, I will be chairing a high-level group of officials to drive this project forward. This will build on the very useful work that has already taken place in the forum. We do not envisage that this group will look again at recent copyright law changes or at any major changes to the IP regime. I recently heard people from some of the key creative sectors say that, since our work in 2003 on implementing the EC Directive on Copyright in the Information Society, copyright law in the UK is generally in a good state. We will be checking that no issues need to be addressed at this time. We are extremely pleased to be supporting a conference in the middle of our EU presidency looking at the creative economy. This will provide an opportunity to stimulate a dialogue throughout Europe on delivering value for all in the IP value chain, based on a robust but fair intellectual property regime. Many of the issues on which we have touched today are likely to be developed further at that conference. Perhaps I may deal with one or two of the specific issues that were raised in the debate—