Brace yourself: SOPA set to strike again

SOPA and PIPA died in Congress two years ago in the face of massive protests by Internet users. But supporters of the legislation, such as the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America, continue to push for SOPA-like antipiracy powers through other channels. Now an obscure case, ClearCorrect Operating v. International Trade Commission, could give the federal trade agency the power to force Internet service providers to block websites and threatens to usher in a de facto SOPA ability to restrict the flow of information on the Internet.

ClearCorrect sent digital files over the Internet from a subsidiary in Pakistan to its Texas offices that were then used to 3D-print dental braces. Rival company Invisalign claimed the braces violated its patents, and parent company Align Technology -- rather than seeking an injunction through the courts -- turned to the ITC, an agency that typically regulates imported goods that infringe intellectual property rights, such as fake iPhones and knockoff Louis Vuitton handbags. The MPAA is advocating the exact same legal strategy in documents leaked in the WikiLeaks Sony dump. While open Internet advocates argue that the ITC does not have authority to regulate the Internet, the agency in 2014 ruled in favor of Align -- and asserted that its regulatory powers extend not only to physical goods but to the "electronic transmission of digital data." That decision, now being reviewed by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, could have repercussions far beyond the world of digital dental images. It may seem hard to believe that the future of the Internet is at stake in an "extremely boring case about invisible braces," but the Federal Circuit's ruling -- which will likely come late this year -- could decide whether the ITC becomes "the new digital cop."