The European Parliament has rejected ACTA in a 478 to 39 vote, making the controversial trade agreement effectively dead and gone -- at least in its current state.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which has been called "more dangerous than SOPA," at one point had support from many governments around the world, including the U.S., the UK and Japan.
A strong public movement against ACTA raised the awareness of its dangers, convincing some governments, such as Poland, not to ratify the agreement.
To pass in the 22 EU member states where it was signed, ACTA needed to be formally ratified by the European Parliament. Today's strong vote against ACTA means the agreement would have to be rewritten and significantly changed in order to be resubmitted for ratification.
#EP has rejected #ACTA agreement— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) July 4, 2012
The fact that ACTA did not pass in the European Parliament doesn't mean other, similar agreements will not follow.