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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, although we on these Benches cannot agree with the amendment, we not should look to prevent a private person or company pursuing an action through the civil courts if they wish. The noble Lord, Lord Razzall, raises an interesting point about the impact that the provisions might—and, I hope, will—have on the number and form of actions that rights holders take against copyright infringers. The difficulty of successfully suing someone through the judicial process for these copyright breaches is well established. The large number of people involved in file-sharing, the enormous number of files being shared and the low value of each individual copyright breach all point to our hope that the provisions lead to a significant reduction in illegal sharing without the courts being used. I therefore share the noble Lord’s hope that the number of court cases against individuals, especially the number of threatened court cases that he mentioned, will be significantly reduced. However, the reduction should be a natural consequence of the successful implementation of this part, not a result of our having imposed a legislative block on rights holders.