Sen Bennet on SOPA

Thank you for contacting me regarding S.968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act. I appreciate hearing from you.

Let me begin by saying that honoring intellectual property rights is vital to our economy. Every incident of stolen intellectual property costs American businesses billions of dollars and results in the loss of thousands of jobs through copyright infringement and the sale of counterfeit goods.

The Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, has sped the proliferation of ideas and products and grown into the world’s most integral marketplace. As a free place for expression and commerce, the Internet is a representation of what is best about American ingenuity. Unfortunately there is a disturbingly large number of criminals who take advantage of this forum by stealing and illegally selling intellectual property. Many of these individuals do not even live in this country. And current law is inadequate to address the problem of offshore rogue pirates exploiting the creativity of Americans. I support finding a commonsense solution to this threat to American innovation.

As you may know, the PROTECT IP Act was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont on May 5, 2011. This legislation would authorize the Attorney General and victimized American companies to seek legal action to prevent the pirating of intellectual property. While no monetary damages are authorized in the bill, a federal court order could require U.S. companies to take steps to discontinue their relationships with foreign rogue sites. The bill’s reach is limited to those foreign sites “dedicated to infringing activities” that have no significant use other than to violate U.S. intellectual property laws.

The PROTECT IP Act received unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee. It now awaits consideration by the full Senate. I initially cosponsored S.968 after noting the support of business groups such as Microsoft and the National Association of Manufacturers, worker organizations such as the AFL-CIO, and law enforcement organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police. But upon hearing the legitimate and understandable concerns of Coloradans that this legislation could have unintended consequences — such as chilling Internet commerce, potentially leading to excessive litigation and running the risk of causing unexpected logistical problems online — I determined that the wisest course of action was to push the Senate to pull back, return to the drawing board, reconvene stakeholders and start afresh.

You may be interested to know that on January 20, 2012, a pending procedural vote in the full Senate on the PROTECT IP Act was canceled. This was the right thing to do. I would have opposed moving forward with this legislation.

I value the input of fellow Coloradans in considering the wide variety of important issues and legislative initiatives that come before the Senate. I hope you will continue to inform me of your thoughts and concerns.

For more information about my priorities as a U.S. Senator, I invite you to visit my website at http://bennet.senate.gov/. Again, thank you for contacting me.


Sincerely,

Michael Bennet
United States Senator