Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) is putting the PROTECT IP Act on hold. "In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote on the PROTECT IP Act," he said in a tweet.

"There's no reason that legitimate issues raised about PROTECT IP can't be resolved," he said. "Counterfeiting & piracy cost 1000s of jobs yearly."

"Americans rightfully expect to be fairly compensated 4 their work. I'm optimistic that we can reach compromise on PROTECT IP in coming weeks," he concluded.

PIPA isn't dead, but the move certainly makes passage less likely. With momentum stalled, Senators skittish about angering voters, and Republican leaders blasting the bill, Reid may find it expedient to postpone the vote on PIPA indefinitely.

Opponents of the legislation, such as Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge, praised the move.

"Everyone should be pleased that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided not to go ahead with a vote on the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)," he said. He called this week's events "a wake-up call for Congress."

"Simply tinkering with the details of this bill, or of its House companion, is not the way to go," he said. "Neither is a ‘summit’ between the Big Media companies and tech companies." He called on Congress to "start from scratch" on anti-piracy legislation.

Update: The bill's sponsor, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is not happy. "More time will pass with jobs lost and economies hurt by foreign criminals who are stealing American intellectual property, and selling it back to American consumers," he said in a statement. "The day will come when the Senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem."

"Somewhere in China today, in Russia today, and in many other countries that do not respect American intellectual property, criminals who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided it was not even worth debating how to stop the overseas criminals from draining our economy," he fumed.