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Codebreaker

OPEN Act getting nowhere

John Moe Mar 8, 2012

The OPEN Act, jointly sponsored by House and Senate members of both parties, was supposed to be the shiny, popular alternative to the failed SOPA and PROTECT IP Act, which died after enormous opposition. OPEN put the task of enforcing copyright violators on the International Trade Commission as opposed to search engines and other web companies who really didn’t want to step into that kind of a mess.

But Hillicon Valley reports that since Rep. Darrell Issa introduced the bill in the House, it has acquired no new co-sponsors and can’t even find its way to committee for markup, let alone reach any kind of a vote on the floor. There’s just no appetite.

This means that the repercussions of SOPA’s death spiral may be more widespread than previously thought. In the effort to get new copyright laws in place, supporters like the motion picture and recording industries may have killed any chance of getting any kind of new protection at all.

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