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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

In response to the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, I agree with everything he said about what is necessary. Within this framework, of course I am identifying that the subscriber is responsible. If it reached the stage that the subscriber had got past the early stage and the issue was of such seriousness that the copyright owner was concerned to take court action, all the normal defences under copyright legislation would apply and the defendant would be within the framework of law in the same way as for any other offence. The Bill does not change or challenge that. The Bill quite properly sets out a different approach for before we reach such a significant stage, in order to take account of exactly the expressions I have had from all sides today about the limited responsibility of a subscriber in so many circumstances where they are not involved in major copyright fraud of this kind.