Yes, like I said, the Democrats did it because the entertainment industry is an important constituency of theirs. The Republicans did it because they thought i

Yes, like I said, the Democrats did it because the entertainment industry is an important constituency of theirs. The Republicans did it because they thought it would be good for business. But the businesses that benefit most from expanding IP protection (record companies, movie studios, publishers) are not very big as big businesses go. Sony pictures made $9 billion last year. Exxon-Mobil made $279 billion -- probably more than all the major studios put together. So it's possible that the Republicans could be persuaded to cut the entertainment industry loose. You could tell them they'd be helping millions of smaller businesses who could benefit from lower IP costs and that the departing RIAA and MPAA members weren't their kind of businesses anyway. This is a longshot. I'm not pretending it isn't. But if it did work, looser IP laws would fall clearly on one side of the political spectrum, making it possible for them to get enacted in time. When they aren't on either side of the spectrum, there's no chance.