Anti-piracy bill markup to continue next month

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) vowed to bring the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) to a vote in his committee next month, even as thousands of websites prepared an unprecedented protest of the legislation.

“I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that saves American jobs and protects intellectual property," he said. Chairman Smith scheduled a series of markup sessions late last year, but opponents offered a slew of amendments, forcing him to postpone a committee vote on the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring the Senate version, the Protect IP Act, to a vote in the full Senate next week. Major websites including Wikipedia and Reddit will temporarily shutdown on Jan 18 and display only a message criticizing the legislation. Google, the world's most visited webpage, will not shutdown but will display a banner opposing the bill.