Several prominent law and lobbying firms found themselves in a decidedly un-festive mood Friday when told the House Judiciary Committee listed them in official documents as supporters of the contentious Stop Online Piracy Act.
They’re nothing of the sort, officials of several firms say. And Judiciary Committee officials are scrambling to figure out what went wrong — and make amends — at the tail end of business before a long holiday weekend.
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“It’s just incorrect. The firm has no position on SOPA,” Davis Wright Tremaine LLP spokesman Mark Usellis told POLITICO. “We’ve contacted the Judiciary Committee to correct that. Obviously, you’d rather this had not happened.”
Officials at two other firms named in the original document confirmed that their organizations do not and have never supported SOPA, also known as H.R. 3261 and sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas). The bill, which has unleashed a torrent of lobbying activity by supporters and opponents alike, aims to empower the government with new legal tools to combat online copyright infringement and sales of counterfeit goods.
“Firms are livid. This is a major screw-up, and it could hurt our reputation,” said one firm official who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak on the record. “Judiciary owes us an explanation.”
After reviewing the list, a Judiciary Committee aide confirmed that some firms were erroneously included. The aide said the list has since been updated on the committee’s website, although one version of it remained uncorrected as of press time.
“The listing of the law firms was a mistake made at the staff level of the committee,” the committee said in a statement to POLITICO. “Once we were made aware of the mistake, we immediately removed the list of supporters from the website and revised the document. Our staff has been in contact with several of the firms and made them aware of our efforts to remedy the mistake.”
While individual lawyers or lobbyists might, rarely do firms institutionally support a sweeping congressional initiative, particularly when their clients may disagree on whether to support or oppose it.
Among the firms listed in the original document are Covington Burling; Lathrop Gage; Morrison Foerster; Shearman Sterling; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher Flom; and White Case.
Lobbying powerhouses such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AFL-CIO, Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America have publicly registered their support for SOPA.
They’re countervailed by such entities as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and the American Civil Liberties Union.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 3:57 p.m. on December 23, 2011.