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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

At the end of a reasonably testing sitting, it is my great pleasure to indicate that I am broadly in sympathy with the contributions of both noble Lords, Lord Razzall and Lord Howard of Rising. I am not going to accept the amendment but I will indicate why I think the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, will feel quite confident in withdrawing it. There is no doubt that this is an important issue. It would clearly be extremely undesirable if information for a copyright infringement report was itself gathered unlawfully. However, it is not usual practice to put a requirement in legislation that it should be implemented in accordance with existing legislation. The law of the land applies and it goes without saying that it must be complied with in exercising the rights and fulfilling the obligations provided for in this Bill. The code of practice will set out in detail the conditions that a copyright infringement report must comply with. Ofcom and the Secretary of State will have to approve that code of practice and neither could do so if it permitted copyright owners or ISPs to breach laws relating to data protection, privacy or anything else. I do not, therefore, think that the first amendment is necessary. In respect of Amendment 57, where the noble Lord is seeking a sworn statement that the person making the report owns the copyright being infringed, the Bill would mean that a copyright infringement report must comply with code requirements. Clause 8 makes clear that this must include requirements as to the means of obtaining evidence of copyright infringement for the CIR and the standard of evidence that must be included. A copyright infringement notice will only be valid if it is issued by the true owner of the copyright or someone authorised to act on his behalf. I am going this far: we will require a sworn statement of ownership of the relevant copyright. I apologise—when the noble Lord is suggesting that there should be a sworn statement, I think that that is otiose and an unnecessary additional cost factor. We expect that for a copyright infringement notice to meet the requirements of the code, the copyright owner would, indeed, have to sign a statement confirming that they had compiled the CIR, in compliance with the code, and that they were the owner of the copyright concerned. Therefore, there will be an attestation—an assertion and a clear written position—where the ownership is identified. I think that that will meet the point and, therefore, renders Amendment 57 otiose. However, I am grateful to the noble Lord for raising two important issues.