The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which has received the support of both parties, was passed by the Senate panel by a vote of 19-0.

"Few things are more important to the future of the American economy and job creation than protecting our intellectual property," said Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont who co-sponsored the bill.

"That is why the legislation is supported by both labor and industry, and Democrats and Republicans are standing together," Leahy said.

The bill would give the Justice Department an expedited process for cracking down on websites engaged in piracy or the sale of counterfeit goods including having a court issue an order against an offending domain name.

"Rogue websites are essentially digital stores selling illegal and sometimes dangerous products," Leahy said. "If they existed in the physical world, the store would be shuttered immediately and the proprietors would be arrested."

"We cannot excuse the behavior because it happens online and the owners operate overseas," he said. "The Internet needs to be free -- not lawless."

Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah who is the bill's co-sponsor, described the Internet "as the glue of international commerce in today's global economy.

"But it's also been turned into a tool for online thieves to sell counterfeit and pirated goods, making hundreds of millions of dollars off of stolen American intellectual property," Hatch said.

The bill has received the support of the music, movie and TV industries, newspapers, authors and publishers but has been criticized by digital rights groups and others as an "Internet censorship" bill.

"I would hope legislation like this that undermines our trade and diplomatic agenda would get a hearing before a full Senate or House vote," a spokeswoman for the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said.

"That way Congress could hear from the civil libertarians, tech companies and Internet engineers concerned this could break the Internet in the name of copyright enforcement," the CCIA spokeswoman said.

"The problem with the US expanding Internet censorship like this is that other nations will adopt similar practices of government blacklists and taking down domains -- only for less noble purposes," she added.

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