Supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
will be out in force Tuesday to make the case for why tougher measures are
called for to crack down on the online distribution of counterfeit and
illegally appropriated goods, from drugs to TV shows.
Billed
as an event in support of SOPA and the Senate's complimentary PROTECT IP Act,
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), and
the FightOnlineTheft coalition will be hosting an exposition of counterfeit
merchandise.
Rep.
Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and sponsor of the bill,
will kick off the event by talking about the need to crack down on
"rogue" Web sites. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who is big on
copyright and content protection given the importance of Nashville to the production of
that content, is also slated to speak as is a representative from the Directors
Guild of America.
The
other side of the issue has been mustering opposition to Judiciary's planned
mark-up of SOPA on Dec. 15. According to an e-mail from the folks at SumOfUs,
that includes a planned Dec. 14 march from the Chamber to Google headquarters
by some protestors dressed as Google Android phones. They will be dropping off
petitions asking Google to quit the Chamber given that company's strong
opposition to SOPA.
Bill
critics held a weekend meeting about their strategy for blocking the bill and
had their own kick-off speaker, Judiciary Committee member Zoe Lofgren
(D-Calif.), a major opponent of the legislation
who an aide said was rallying the troops behind the effort to block it, saying
they had a big week ahead of them.
