European Trade Committee Votes To Reject ACTA

In what will come as a surprise for many, the European Trade Committee has voted and rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). With a 19 to 12 vote to reject ACTA it would appear this is the final nail in the coffin for the controversial anti-piracy treaty. The European Parliament could still vote and pass ACTA when voting takes place in July, but considering the fact key members of parliament are part of the Trade Committee and tend to recommend how to vote to the wider parliament, it seems likely ACTA will still fail. When spoken to after the vote, UK MEP David Martin who is the committee lead 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,” that it “left many questions unanswered,” and that “In the end it came down to vote on intellectual property or civil liberties and I’m glad that civil liberties won over.” It would seem that European members of Parliament have a better idea of what is truly important, as this is now the fifth committee that has recommended that ACTA be rejected. Hopefully the fact so many are opposed to the anti-piracy treaty will allow it to finally die.