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Success! SOPA & PIPA get pulled from Congress indefinitely

I have great news! House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) who is the author and sponsor of SOPA, made a statement this afternoon that he is pulling SOPA from the House “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

This is in direct response to the sister bill PIPA in the Senate which has also been postponed indefinitely. In a separate statement issued by Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada), he said that “In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act. [PIPA]”

Clearly the SOPA Strike earlier this week made the impact that everyone wanted it to, swaying the votes enough where Reid and then Smith had to make changes. Now the SOPA and PIPA bills need to be rethought and rewritten in a better way that won’t harm innovation. This isn’t the end, but it’s a start down the right path.

Below is the statement issued by Senator Reid in it’s entirety:

“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.

“There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved. Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs. We must take action to stop these illegal practices. We live in a country where people rightfully expect to be fairly compensated for a day’s work, whether that person is a miner in the high desert of Nevada, an independent band in New York City, or a union worker on the back lots of a California movie studio.

“I admire the work that Chairman Leahy has put into this bill. I encourage him to continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge a balance between protecting Americans’ intellectual property, and maintaining openness and innovation on the internet. 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.”