I thought these were essentially the same bill; killing it in one house killed it. The depth of the analysis of the two bills in Wikipedia is so different that I cant tell. It appears that whether Protect IP is voted on is up to Harry Reid, but I find Senate rules nearly impenetrable. Enlightenment would be welcome..
It seems they are variants of the same idea, which if passed separately would likely have their language reconciled in 'conference committee' (where members of the House and Senate merge the language). If both reach that point, passing the merged version is almost certain.
Right now neither has been 'killed'. They're due in January for more action: either continuing House hearings (SOPA) or a Senate floor vote (Protect-IP, if Harry Reid gets his way).
Nonsense. That's just how it works. Any final bill would still have to pass both (though there can sometimes be shananigans in the conference committee). And nothing is ever really 'killed' – any bill can be reintroduced at any time, the issue is whether the leaders who control the agenda want to give it time/votes.
