Just got word that the Copyright Modernization Act died in committee today. Alex Curtis from Public Knowledge has a report from Capitol Hill:

This week, [CMA] actually came up and Rep. Lamar Smith, Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, who introduced the bill was recognized to make a statement. In it, he said he had counted heads in the committee and was confident that he had the votes for successful passage, but was concerned that the bill may be set for difficult passage out of the House and Senate. He said he’d prefer to start anew next year. Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner rhetorically asked if that was an indication that Smith wanted to withdraw the bill from markup consideration, and then made is so.

A collective sigh of relief was let out from a few rows of audience, comprised of consumer device manufacturers and some service providers.

Well done everyone. Here is concrete proof that your phone calls and emails work. We fought back one of the worst information policy bill to see Congress in years. But we can't rest on our laurels, we still have a little bit of time before Congress goes back into recess for the November elections and there is the lame duck session after the elections.