After years of tension and drama surrounding the infamous secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a vote by the European Parliament seems to have sealed it’s fate. This morning, the European Parliament has voted 478 against the agreement, 39 for the agreement and 165 abstained. We’ve been following developments surrounding ACTA very closely. More recently, the International Trade committee (INTA) narrowly voted to reject ACTA , making it 5 committees to 0 that recommended against ratifying the agreement. While the last committee’s close, but critical rejection meant a lot, the most important vote was yet to come – the vote by the European Parliament which was scheduled to be held today . There were rumors that some might try to delay the vote. There was also a movement to try and defer the vote until the European Court of Justice ruled on whether or not ACTA violated fundamental rights .

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European Parliament Overwhelmingly Rejects ACTA 478 – 39