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Is the fight against SOPA a red herring? Will IP holders simply plow their fight through the courts?
IP holders are pursuing remedies via the judicial system regardless of what's happening in the legislative branch (with SOPA and Protect-IP).
In this recent case brought by Chanel, the court gave sweeping remedies despite no notice to defendants. Remedies included asking unaffiliated partiles like Google and Facebook to de-index sites and GoDaddy to transfer and update DNS records. Whether the sites were guilty of the accustations made by Chanel is not the most important aspect here, it's a stark reality to see the courts make a broad judgment based on that data alone.
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Like all "legislation" associated with the internet, SOPA is and will continue to generate lots of heated debate. While "asking" unaffiliated parties to take action may be one of the self-regulating steps that many favor in lieu of legislation, the economics usually get in the way. This debate is much like the Net Neutrality debate that has raged the last couple of years, and has now resulted in pseudo-legislation that is viewed by many as having no teeth, but still allows the government (in the form of the FCC) to noodle around in places that could better be solved by self-regulation and free trade. Worse yet, the rules as defined leave lots of areas such as wireless uncovered. A recent attempt to overturn those rules failed to pass the Senate a couple of weeks ago. The reason I bring this up is simply to demonstrate the uphill battle SOPA and Protect-IP will have. If you throw HR1249 and the recent Patent Reform legislation into the mix, I think you will see what I mean - http://goo.gl/hGP9G
There's a short video on PBS Newshour (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8bIdDT-Fg) that gives a couple of different perspectives on your question. Steve Tepp presents some pretty interesting numbers on the potential size and scope of the problem. But as president of the US Chamber of Commerce, one would expect him to paint a pretty scary picture. Not saying that I agree/disagree with his numbers/position - just sharing a perspective. I've followed Larry Downes for a couple of years since reading his book "The Laws of Disruption". While I don't always agree with Larry (possibly due to my inability to grasp the complexities and nuances of some of his writings), I think he brings a unique perspective on the notion of trying legislate the digital world. Worth 10 minutes of your time to watch it.
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