Regarding Jim's truth-speaking mission on Capitol Hill yesterday (see his blog and his testimony), the witnesses were stacked in favor of restricting content protection, but the subcommittee members by and large appeared to be true champions of intellectual property. (I'll save my comments on Jim's performance until the end.) And keep in mind here, this isn't the Judiciary Committee. Rick Boucher freely admits he crafted HR-1201 (and HR-107 in the 108th Congress) with language on disclosures of CD copy-protection because that's a consumer protection issue that gets him a Commerce Committee referral, where things are supposed to be more friendly for him. (He has one friend on this issue that's pretty important, Chairman Barton.) Here's a breakdown as I saw it:

Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) -- A keynote speaker at PFF's Aspen Summit this year, Blackburn did her Nashville songwriters proud, even though she had almost completely lost her voice. She faulted arguments favoring some circumvention of copy-protection technology as being "a little bit pregnant." (I'd add that once we start down that path, the baby will be full-term in no time.) She said folks back home called fair use "fairly useful technologies to steal my work." She also pinned Gary Shapiro in a lively exchange, and he, being extremely slippery after years of lobbying, is hard to nail down. You also have to love that she introduced for the record Jim's "One Degree of Separation" paper on Kelo, which she said she loved.

Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.) -- Another impressive defender of IP, doing proud the scientists and other creators of IP through R&D in his district. He quoted Jim in his opening statement (a statement Jim wrote several years ago) and probably spoke the clearest line in the whole hearing when he said "without DRM these products wouldn't even be there." He disputed Gigi Sohn's insistence that HR-1201 would create a "narrow exception."

Mary Bono (R-Cal.) -- Her strong defense of IP is well-known, and she has personal reasons to feel the way she does. I didn't agree with her late husband's extension of copyright terms, but I fully support Bono's efforts to ensure creators can profit from their creations. She kept jumping into the debate even when she didn't have the floor, asking others to yield her time. I'd hate to be Boucher and have to face her, especially when she made it clear she'll do everything in her power to make sure HR-1201 goes "nowhere."

Mike Ross (D-Ark.) -- (No relation, as far as I know.) A relatively new addition to the Energy and Commerce Committee, I've never met or covered him before, but he was impressive. Don't know if his district creates a lot of IP, but he defended protecting IP with vigor, noting (as Jim did) that "copyright law is commercial law." A glance at his web site shows he's a Blue Dog Democrat (fiscally conservative) so that's another point in his favor.

Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) -- Appropriately used neutral language, but made it clear he doesn't want this issue solved, to the extent there's a problem that needs to be solved, through legislation.

Ranking Democrat Jan Schakowsky (Ill.) -- Seemingly open to a legislative remedy, but made it clear she didn't think that HR-1201 was that remedy.

Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) -- Tore Google a new one over its Google Print program, although she misstated the company's program by saying it was putting whole books online.

Tim Murphy (R-Pa.)-- Echoed DeGette, noting he himself is an author. He said the company was "taking away the ability to make a living."

Edolphus Towns (D-Md.) -- Praised the video game industry and said they need to protect their IP.

Charles Gonzalez (D-Tex.) -- Pointed out the too-clever-by-half approach of Shapiro and others who say copyright holders can just sue those who abuse the circumvention right that would be given in HR-1201 by saying "you can't sue millions of times over."

Full Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) -- An original supporter of HR-1201, he promoted the bill, but in a very defensive manner. That wasn't too surprising, because three of the strongest pro-IP speakers -- Blackburn, Ferguson and Ross -- preceded him.

Rick Boucher (D-Va.) -- Not on the subcommittee but allowed to participate. He pointedly declined to ask questions of witnesses opposed to his bill, instead drew out predictable arguments from friendly witnesses. I would have loved to have seen him engage in debate with Jim.

And Jim? Well, if you weren't there or didn't see the stream, he was exactly what you'd expect -- direct, witty, and full of common sense. It was abundantly clear after hearing him how markets are the place to deal with these issues, not Congress. And as for witty? Well, when asked if Congress should take another year before passing HR-1201, he said "They should take another century." It was clear watching the subcommittee members that his arguments were resonating. Oh, if only there hadn't been eight witnesses! Oh well, this subcommittee -- which greeted Jim warmly just a few weeks ago when he testified on Kelo -- is very much in sync with IPcentral on IP issues, and frankly many of these members would fit in nicely over on the Judiciary Committee. That committee, of course, is none too pleased to see a Commerce subcommittee debating intellectual property, but one of the joys in Hill life is watching those two committees behave like two toddlers fighting over a Rice Krispies treat; whatever's left probably won't be edible.