The European Parliament overwhelmingly rejected the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement in an all-parliamentary vote.  The votes tallied to 478 against, 146 abstentions, and only 39 in favor.

ACTA intended to establish an international standards for intellectual property rights across all EU member states and other signing countries, including the United States.  The rejection of the act means that 22 out of the 27 European member states who signed ACTA cannot put it into their local sovereign law.  But the vote doesn’t mean the death of ACTA; foreign countries can still use it to shape their laws but those would have lesser scope without Europe’s support.

David Martin, the politician in charge of investigating ACTA, was the first to recommend that the treaty should be trashed, which started a chain reaction of rejections.

“It’s time to give [ACTA] its last rites,” Martin said.

ACTA garnered so much controversy since its conception.  It was supposed to be about taking down counterfeiters but it spun out of control and threatened to invade user privacy in order to curtail piracy.  Though some tried to polish the treaty, like removing the clause that would allow border security to search your computer or iPod for copied music, most of the controversial aspects of it stayed.

But the fight is far from over as ACTA is in for the long haul with supporters like European trade commissioner Karel De Gucht, who has been lobbying for ACTA to be passed.  Last month, in a letter addressed to the members of the parliament, De Gucht, already stated that even if they voted against ACTA, he will just come up with a way to have it approved.

“If you decide for a negative vote before the European Court rules, let me tell you that the Commission will nonetheless continue to pursue the current procedure before the Court, as we are entitled to do,” De Gucht said.  “A negative vote will not stop the proceedings before the Court of Justice.”

Back in March, the European Commission turned over the issue of ACTA to the European Parliament but Martin Schulz, the head of the European Parliament, suggested that by taking the treaty to the higher court, the commission removed the immediate chance for parliament to discuss an issue that citizens feel strongly about.

Three major European Parliament committees, LIBE, the civil liberties committee; JURI, the legal affairs committee; and ITRE, the industry and energy committee, all voted against ACTA back in May.  And in June, European Parliament international trade committee INTA also voted against ACTA.

Everyone sees ACTA as a threat to people’s privacy and freedom on the internet.