Last Monday, July 9th, the guest professor Prof. Dr. Marcos Wachowicz gave an excellent lecture on Brazilian copyright law during the copyright lecture by Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoeren. Prof. Wachowicz from the Federal University of Paraná (Brazil) is visiting the ITM as a guest researcher and will conduct research this year on copyright issues and the regulation of blockchain. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Brazilian copyright law, he critically analysed the development of the law, especially in terms of modern IT developments. In particular, multimedia works and the development of software posed challenges to Brazilian law. Since the law was passed, heated debates have been taking place in Brazil. Many criticise its lack of flexibility with regard to digitisation. Prof. Wachowicz called for further reforms of copyright law in order to bring private and commercial interests into an appropriate balance.
The comparisons with German law were particularly interesting. In contrast to German copyright law, Brazilian copyright law primarily protects investments and not non-material interests, Prof. Wachowicz repeatedly made clear. While copies for private use are permitted in Germany, he surprised the audience when he explained that Brazilian students are not allowed to copy books, as private copies are also prohibited in Brazil. He also referred to sampling, which is much discussed in Germany, and pointed out that this is also not permitted in Brazil. It became clear in the course of the presentation that debates in Brazil were similar to those in the EU.
