Stop Online Piracy Act

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R–TX), provisions included the requesting of court orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to the websites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers to block access to the websites. The proposed law would have expanded existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Proponents of the legislation said it would protect the intellectual-property market and corresponding industry, jobs, and revenue, and was necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign-owned and operated websites. Proponents claimed that flaws in existing laws did not cover foreign-owned and operated websites, and cited examples of active promotion of rogue websites by U.S. search engines. The bill appeared to have strong, bipartisan support. It was introduced in the House and was sent to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. It also received support from the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Attorneys General, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau, the AFL-CIO and 22 trade unions, and the National Consumers League.