Patrick Leahy and Lamar Smith: We'll shepherd piracy bill through like patent law

Judiciary Committee Chairmen Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) said they intend to use the same method to push online piracy bills through Congress that they used to successfully pass the first major overhaul of the U.S. patent system in six decades.

The two lawmakers, named POLITICO and POLITICO Pro's Technology Policymakers of the Year, said the proliferation of online piracy causes serious risks to public safety and costs American jobs. "Stealing is stealing. I don’t care if it’s on the Internet or you're breaking into a warehouse somewhere — it’s theft," Chairman Leahy said at POLITICO and POLITICO Pro's Policy+Politics event. But the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act in the House are no strangers to controversy. Major Web companies — including Google, Twitter and Facebook — have argued the bills would hamper future innovation online and encourage censorship on the Internet. Chairman Smith said he's working to address these concerns with SOPA before the bill is marked up next week. But his goal to is make "70 percent" of people happy with the final product. "We think we can address these concerns, but not all of these concerns," Chairman Smith said.