§ Mr. Moynihanasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he is able to offer financial support to the newly-formed Common Law Institute of Intellectual Property.
§ Mr. PattieAs the Green Paper published in December 1983 indicated, the importance of intellectual property for504W industry and commerce has been insufficiently appreciated in the United Kingdom. I therefore welcome the recent formation of the Common Law Institute of Intellectual property and propose to provide it with a grant aid of £25,000 in the current financial year and up to £50,000 in each of the two succeeding years, subject to matching contributions from industry, to carry out academic research into legal and economic factors relevant to the creation and exploitation of intellectual property rights. I shall monitor its operations, which should make a considerable contribution to the development of the innnovative capacity of the United Kingdom. Parliamentary approval to this new grant in aid provision will be sought in a revised Estimate for the scientific and technological assistance vote. Pending that approval the necessary expenditure will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund.