Last rites' for ACTA? Europe rejects antipiracy treaty

The European Parliament has voted to overwhelmingly reject the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, also known as ACTA, following an all-parliamentary vote today.

The controversial treaty is intended to harmonize anticounterfeit and copyright protection measures across all EU member states and other signing countries, including the United States.
The Parliament logged 478 votes against, and only 39 in favor. There were 146 abstentions.
The vote in the European Parliament means that the signing 22 European member states cannot ratify ACTA into their local sovereign law. However, non-EU countries will still be able to shape laws around the treaty's mandates, although ACTA's scope will be significantly reduced without Europe's backing.
To date, 22 of the 27 European member states have signed up to the treaty, including the United Kingdom. Germany, however, has yet to subscribe to ACTA following its foreign ministry calling for a delay to the signing process.
The politician charged with investigating the treaty, rapporteur David Martin, took over from Kader Arif following his resignation in protest earlier this year. He was the first to recommend that the European Parliament should not accept the treaty, firing off a chain reaction of similar rejections.
Martin said today: "It's time to give [ACTA] its last rites."
In late May, three major European Parliament committees voted against ACTA: LIBE, the civil liberties committee; JURI, the legal affairs committee; and ITRE, the industry and energy committee.
EU trade committee INTA also rejected the ACTA in a vote three weeks later, sending the strongest signal yet to the European Parliament to reject the treaty.