News

The public performance of music in street Carnival parties is not free from the collection of royalties by ECAD (the entity responsible for the management of public performance rights in Brazil). ECAD records some of the events in order to identify the songs and distribute the collected royalties proportionally among composers, performers, publishers and phonogram (...)

Masks of famous faces during Carnival: cultural expression or violation of right of publicity? Carnival is one of the largest and oldest Brazilian cultural manifestations. Over the years, some habits around this festivity have emerged, such as wearing costumes and props. In this context, masks of famous faces achieved popularity, which resulted in a discussion (...)

The Third Panel of the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice affirmed the decision¹ ordering the entity responsible for domain names “.br” (“NIC.br”) to pay damages to the actress Carolina Ferraz due to the registration of a pornographic website under the actress’ name. In this case, the actress filed a lawsuit against K1 and NIC.br, seeking (...)

The Fourth Panel of the Superior Court of Justice[1] held that a court expert opinion is required to verify trade dress infringement, which constitutes unfair competition. According to the Panel, a comparative analysis by courts of photographs alone would not be enough to provide that the trade dress of a product or service creates confusion (...)

Ministry of Justice files administrative proceeding against Google Brasil for privacy violation The National Consumer Secretariat of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security filed an administrative proceeding against Google Brasil after receiving a complaint from the Federal Prosecution Service. The Department of Consumer Protection and Defense reported that there are indications of privacy violation (...)

BPTO issues new Normative Instruction regarding electronic registration of software On February 12, 2019, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) issued Normative Instruction No. 99/2019, setting the electronic registration procedures for computer programs. Said Resolution reiterates the procedures established in the Normative Instruction No. 74/2017, now revoked, and brings clarification on the transfer of (...)

Brazil: Phase II of Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program BPTO-JPO On February 12, 2019, the Brazilian Patent Office (BPTO) issued Resolution No. 235, instituting the Phase II of PPH Pilot Program signed between the BPTO and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO). It is worth noting that eligible technical fields have been expanded and now (...)

Data breach on social media: what are the rights of platforms’ users? While social media privacy policies are constantly improving through the adoption of measures to protect the users’ rights, large companies and organizations which collect and store personal data in order provide their services are still subject to unforeseen events, such as data breaches. (...)