The Brazilian Ministry of Citizenship, through the Special Secretariat of Culture, launched a public consultation in order to receive contributions from all civil society in regards of a possible amendment of the country’s Copyright Law. The ministry will accept answers until September 15, 2019.
Some important issues, such as possible reservations to the Beijing treaty and the WPPT, in case Brazil decides to agree to these treaties, as well as a list of issues necessary issues to tackle when amending the Law, are all included as part of the public review, also including “Copyright on the Internet” and “Civil Liability of Internet Providers”.
In relation to these issues, an amendment of the Copyright Law in Brazil would come at an important time for a historical reason: the approval, in 2014, of the Internet’s Civil Framework, a law that dealt with a large universe of issues related to the use of the Internet in Brazil and left to future legislators issues like the responsibilities of Internet Service Providers in the field of copyright. Therefore, the civil review can produce a regulatory framework fills this gap, being of considerable interest, not only for copyright holders, but also for the entire internet-based industry.
It is also interesting to attest that the public review comes at a time when the American DMCA system, which has become a true international standard and creates a safe harbor for suppliers is in full debate in the US, and will probably end up forgotten in Europe after the implementation of its new Copyright Directive, which, in summary, makes user-generated content platforms responsible for obtaining the necessary licenses for its operation. This begs the question, if Brazil decides to regulate the issue, can it be influenced by the proposed new model?
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Ygor Valerio
CEO at Ltahub
Columnista