Intellectual Property Bill [HL]

Perhaps I may probe the noble Lord a little further on his views on what the optimum period for protection for design rights ought to be. It seems to me that, as a principle, protection of intellectual property ought to be for the minimum period consistent with encouraging innovation. There is a very large difference between the position in the European Union and the position under UK law. If the European Union provides protection for up to three years and under our own domestic law we provide protection for up to 15 years, that is a huge discrepancy. Will the Minister help us to understand the Government’s thinking on what really would be the optimum period of protection? Fifteen years seems a very long period. I appreciate that there are all sorts of situations and all sorts of varieties of design, and that longer protection may be more appropriate for some than for others, but what does he think should be the guiding principle?