My Lords, I have added my name to Amendment 28C, following my noble friends Lord Jenkin of Roding and Lord Clement-Jones. It was
interesting to hear from my noble friend Lord Jenkin about his genes. It made me think about my genes, and my grandfather, who invested a great deal of time, energy, love and passion in developing motor racing cars back in the 1950s and 1960s. I remember as a young child the privilege of being able to stand within what we called the works to watch those incredible machines being built. That was wonderful. The specifications used to build those machines, and their protection, were paramount to their success as flagship examples of British industry, for jobs, investment and advancement of technology within the motor industry and the motor racing industry. Of course, the principles that were clear then, in the 1950s and 1960s, are no different today. The protection of copyright is crucial for certainty. Everybody involved in the creative industries needs certainty. Often, as we know, people in the creative industries are taking enormous risks—very often on their own—whether they are a lone photographer or a filmmaker or a record company representing multiple interests.
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I do not want to spend long on my feet this afternoon because noble friends who preceded me have made the case loud and clear for a director-general for intellectual property. However, let me use one example of the mass lobbying that we have all had over recent months—I think absolutely understandably. People care passionately about what they create and about how their ability may be at risk to continue to do their jobs and create some of the brilliant successes within our economy.
I want to quote Martin Mills, the co-founder and chairman of Beggars Group, the UK record label for the artist Adele who has been the biggest selling artist in the world for the past two years. Martin Mills won the American Billboard magazine icon award at the MIDEM conference in Cannes yesterday. In accepting the award, Martin made a stinging attack on the Government and their attitude towards copyright.
“Creative industries are built upon strong and defendable intellectual property rights, and without that they will inevitably wither and fail. It is impossible to make the investments to produce new creative goods without the security that ownership of them is protected.
Yet governments are seduced daily by elements of the new technology industry into diluting and compromising that security. Often in the name of the importance of those industries to today’s economies, often in the name of open Internet philosophy. But all of these arguments are aimed self-interestedly at compromising the value and the integrity of creative goods. These creative works are a priceless national cultural and economic asset, which should be treasured, not dumped”.
These rather fierce words were heard yesterday in Cannes—incredibly unfortunate but opportune. The Government have an opportunity to listen to those who argue, and the number is growing in support of my noble friend’s amendment, for a director-general who can focus entirely on a critical component of the British economy. Here is an opportunity. It should not be missed.