A man protests on Feb. 13, 2012 against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Riga.
The European parliament voted to reject the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on Wednesday, according to the BBC.
The agreement which was designed to curb piracy was signed by 22 European Union member states but had not been formally ratified, said the BBC. Internet advocates said it would pose a threat to online freedom.
The vote was 478 to 39 with 165 abstentions, according to Reuters, meaning that the agreement will go back to the European Commission to be renegotiated.
In February, tens of thousands of activists protested across Europe against the agreement, said Reuters. Around 2.5 million people signed a petition against ACTA.
More on GlobalPost: European Union sends ACTA to Europe's highest court for a decision
The European Commission's plea that the agreement was needed to protect companies impacted by counterfeiting and piracy was ignored, said Agence France Presse.
Other countries that had signed it include the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, South Korea, New Zealand and Switzerland. AFP noted that six countries needed to ratify ACTA for it to come into effect.
More on GlobalPost: Oh no. First it was SOPA/PIPA. Then ACTA…
David Martin, a member of the Parliament from Scotland said, "No emergency surgery, no transplant, no long period of recuperation is going to save ACTA,” according to the Associated Press. “It’s time to give it its last rites. It’s time to allow its friends to mourn and for the rest of us to get on with our lives.”
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said, "With the rejection of ACTA, the need to protect the backbone of Europe’s economy across the globe: our innovation, our creativity, our ideas — our intellectual property — does not disappear."
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