Well, well, well, well. Just like I, and many others with me, have said: SOPA is most certainly not dead. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith has just pushed out a press release stating that the House debate on SOPA will continue in February, ‘unshelving’ SOPA only a few days after it was supposedly shelved.

Smith’s words would be hilarious if they weren’t coming from one of the most powerful government bodies in the world (link added for dramatic effect). “To enact legislation that protects consumers, businesses and jobs from foreign thieves who steal America’s intellectual property, we will continue to bring together industry representatives and Members to find ways to combat online piracy,” he states.

“Due to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks, markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act is expected to resume in February,” he added, “I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that saves American jobs and protects intellectual property.”

Well, it’s not exactly the “Protecting American Jobs and Loving Puppies and God Act” as I jokingly predicted, but give the guy a few more press releases and he’ll get there. I guess this also vindicates my position that Obama’s statement was entirely meaningless – some argued that the shelving of SOPA was at least in part due to this statement.

In any case, the protests tomorrow would’ve continued anyway, but now they’ve just gotten even more meaningful.