Copyright law of Brazil

[a] The first legal document to deal with the protection of creative works in Brazil was the Law of 11 August 1827, which gave jurist course professors exclusive publication rights to their course's compendia for the 10 years following their approval by the government.

[4] It protected any text ("or stamp") which had been written, composed or translated by Brazilian citizens, for the lifetime of the author, plus 10 years if they had any heirs.

Os herdeiros dos autores gozarão desse direito pelo tempo que a lei determinar.

[13] Crucially, this protection wasn't automatic: it was required that works be submitted to the National Library of Brazil until 31 December of the year following the publication.

[14] A side effect of this time limit is that it would have made works created before 1897 uncopyrightable, as they would need to have been registered before the law was even promulgated.

[21] Additionally, Brazilian law has a freedom of panorama clause, concerning permanently displayed works in the public space.

This would, for instance, prohibit the transferring of paid-for (whole) songs from a computer to a phone,[23] or the photocopying of otherwise unavailable books by students to study at home.

[25] This understanding was codified in the Penal Code of Brazil in 2003, essentially shielding offenders from criminal liability when copying for private use:[24][26] Art.

Violating author's rights and those related to it: [...] § 4th The provisions at §§ 1st, 2nd and 3rd do not apply when dealing with exception or limitation to author's rights or those related to it, in conformity with the provisions of Law nº 9,610, of 19 February 1998, or with copy of intellectual work or phonogram, in a single exemplar, for private use by the copyist, without direct or indirect profit motive.