BBC News reports the European Parliament's trade committee has voted to reject the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) by 19 votes to 12. According to BBC, the vote is likely the deathblow for the controversial treaty because the committe formally recommends how to vote to the wider parliament, which is due to take a vote on ACTA in July.
One of its harshest detractors has been UK MEP David Martin, the lead member of the committee.
Speaking after the Inta vote, he said: "This was not an anti-intellectual property vote. This group believes Europe does have to protect its intellectual property but Acta was too vague a document," he said.
He said that it "left many questions unanswered", including the role of ISPs in policing the internet. He also said that many on the committee felt that the sanctions for breaches of copyright were "disproportionate".
"In the end it came down to vote on intellectual property or civil liberties and I'm glad that civil liberties won over," he said.
