U.S. Protect IP Act stalls in Senate

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden announced Thursday that he is blocking a Senate committee motion to proceed with U.S. anti-piracy bill S. 968, the Protect IP Act, citing concerns about freedom of speech and technological innovation. “Consistent with Senate Standing Orders and my policy of publishing in the Congressional Record a statement whenever I place a hold on legislation, I am announcing my intention to object to any unanimous consent request to proceed to S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act, Wyden said in a statement. He said the costs of the legislation, similar to a bill introduced last year known as the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, outweigh the benefits. “I understand and agree with the goal of the legislation, to protect intellectual property and combat commerce in counterfeit goods, but I am not willing to muzzle speech and stifle innovation and economic growth to achieve this objective. At the expense of legitimate commerce, takes an overreaching approach to policing the Internet when a more balanced and targeted approach would be more effective. The collateral damage of this approach is speech, innovation and the very integrity of the Internet,” he said. The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the legislation Thursday but Wyden's objection puts it on hold. The Protect IP Act is intended to provide powers to the U.S. Attorney General to bring court actions against “rogue sites” that infringe copyright or facilitate its infringement. Web service companies such as Google Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Ebay Inc., and PayPal oppose the bill. But a coalition of about 170 businesses and associations, including Nike Inc., Ford Motor Co., the Motion Picture Association of America and NBC Universal, have sent a letter to the committee expressing their support for the legislation. The Conservative government's former omnibus copyright reform legislation, Bill C-32, contained a similar provision to limit web services that enable copyright infringement. The bill is expected to be reintroduced in the fall.

U.S. Protect IP Act stalls in Senate

Brief | May 27, 2011

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