It's a post-SOPA world. But the question is, what does that mean for the future?

Content companies used to getting their way on Capitol Hill got humbled last January when an unprecedented wave of public protest shut down the SOPA and PIPA proposals that would have regulated online copyright. Now that the public has been awakened to the issue, those interested in a more balanced copyright system are thinking over their strategy.

"Everything is on the table, including copyright terms," said Gigi Sohn, the president of Public Knowledge, speaking at a panel at CES 2013. "Let's put it to those who want greater, longer, stronger CR enforcement... why shouldn't we have some balance? Let's turn the clock back and think about the original need for copyright."

This year, says Sohn, will be the year "we push our own, affirmative, agenda."

The moderator, Declan McCullagh of CNET, put it to another panelist who has advocated for copyright reform: Mike Masnick of Techdirt. He was more circumspect.

"So, is 2013 the year of the counterattack?" asked McCullagh.

"Hopefully," said Masnick. "I think what needs to be recognized is, there are a ton of problems out there thanks to existing copyright law, that should be on the table to be fixed. DOJ and ICE are still out there, seizing websites, with a questionable rationale. They're doing all these things we were told would come out of SOPA, if it passed. People missed the fact that a lot of the stuff we were worried about happening, is happening anyways."

Also speaking on the panel was Derek Khanna, the former staffer for the Republican Study Committee who was fired after he published a proposal for reforming copyright law (and spoke to Ars about his experience earlier this week.) Khanna spoke about some lines of argument for copyright reform that he believes would appeal the most to conservatives, such as the fact that limited copyright allows people to create new business models from material that has entered the public domain. And conservatives need to understand that copyright isn't like standard property and doesn't call for the application of traditional property rights, he said. "To start with, copyright is for a limited period of time," making it more like a temporary privilege than a piece of property.

Representatives from the MPAA and RIAA were also invited to join the panel but declined to attend, McCullagh told the gathered audience. However, both industry groups indicated this week that new copyright legislation isn't on their agenda.

Sohn's suggestions that copyright reforms, including term lengths, should be on the table merged somewhat with proposals Ars discussed with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Congresswoman who represents parts of Silicon Valley. A more extensive interview with Lofgren will be posted later in our CES coverage.