Dodd says anti-piracy bill is dead

WASHINGTON, April 13 (UPI) -- Chris Dodd, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, says he now thinks the Stop Online Piracy Act he has long backed is "dead."

"It's gone. In my view, it's dead," the former U.S. senator said in an interview for Bloomberg's "Conversations with Judy Woodruff" to air this weekend.

Dodd had previously expressed confidence the controversial language of the copyright theft bill could be reworked and introduced to Congress, The Hill reported.

In January, Google said more than 4.5 million people signed its petition against the anti-piracy laws being considered by Congress.

"There's no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs," the petition read. "Too much is at stake -- please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA."

Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act or PIPA is a Senate companion bill.