In a letter sent today by 6 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which unanimously reported PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) last spring, sent a letter to Senator Reid stating that they do not believe it is ready to be brought to the Senate floor on January 24th.

The 6 Senators sending the letter today include bill cosponsors Chuck Grassley, the current Ranking Member of the Committee, and Orrin Hatch, a former Chairman.

The Senators also ask in the letter that:

The White House and Executive Branch agencies where they stand on the bill and Better analysis of the additional taxpayer costs of bill implementation.

According to Phil Corwin of the ICA who has been following developments on a daily basis;

“This does not mean that PIPA is dead – at least not yet. It probably means substantial delay and possibly additional hearings, followed by protracted negotiations. Meantime, Senator Wyden’s OPEN bill proposes an entirely different way forward against true bad actor foreign websites that infringe US IP, using the existing International Trade Commission trade dispute resolution mechanism, and there will probably be Finance Committee hearings on it in the near future.”

“Overall, this is very encouraging news.”