All actions on two controversial anti-piracy laws in the United States have been postponed, last Friday. Debates and voting rounds on the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) were scheduled for this week. However, in response to fierce criticism, Senate majority leader Harry Reid postponed voting rounds on the PIPA anti-piracy bill, last Friday. Lamar Smith, main sponsor of the SOPA proposal in the House of Representatives, postponed taking any further actions on SOPA, a couple of hours later. 

The SOPA and PIPA proposals give the Justice Department the power to block websites, that are suspected of hosting illegal copies of copyright protected material. Both “anti-piracy” bills sparked debates between stakeholders that believe their intellectual property is not adequately protected in the online domain and opponents, arguing that the legislation may jeopardise the freedom of the Internet. 

In response to this debate, Lamar Smith amended the SOPA proposal a couple of times, as we wrote on this website earlier. However, these amendments were not sufficient to address all concerns. Lamar Smith said on Friday he takes the concerns of critics seriously and, therefore, he is willing to work with copyright owners and Internet companies to develop a consensus on the best approach to stop online piracy. 

Meanwhile in the U.S. Senate, debates on the PIPA proposal also came to a boiling point. “In the light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on Protect IP Act”, Harry Reid stated. Reid said he would delay the voting on PIPA until the Senate Judiciary Committee could make more progress. Reid is convinced that a compromise can be achieved between the opponents and proponents. “We made good progress through the discussions we’ve held in recent days, and I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks”, Reid stated. 

Read more about SOPA on FutureOfCopyright.com :

• Dutch Green Party longs for minister Rosenthal’s points of view on SOPA
• SOPA debate postponed to January next year 
• Republicans amend SOPA proposal after criticism 

References: The Washington Post, De Morgen

By : Deniece Teterissa