Category Archives: Piracy

February 8, 2012 · 11:45 am

My Completely Unsolicited Comments on The SOPA and PIPA Issue

Now that the “internet outrage” over SOPA and PIPA has apparently subsided at least a little, I would like to make a couple of comments about it, looking from a Brazilian perspective.

However, I will start quoting the title of the article Duff McKagan, bassist of the original Guns N’ Roses band, wrote at the Seattle Weekly. He brilliantly summarized the whole situation and I happen to agree with him wholeheartedly: “Quit whining about SOPA and PIPA. Where’s the public outrage over internet piracy?” Continue reading →

Brazil Creates Trademark Database for Use by Law Enforcement Officials

The Brazilian Department of Justice is in the process of developing a database called the National Directory of Trademarks.

The National Directory of Trademarks is part of the National Plan to Combat Piracy created by the National Council to Combat Piracy – CNCP. The collection and processing of data that will integrate the directory will be in charge of the Executive Secretariat of the CNCP, with the support of the IT Center of the Ministry of Justice. Continue reading →

Piracy has been accepted by society; therefore, it is legal

The title above pretty much sums up a “brilliant” decision laid down by the Appeal Court of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul (central region of Brazil). The street vendor, Wladson Luiz Gonçalves da Silva was caught on the act selling 118 DVDs and 82 CDs – all illegal – last October. He was sued before the criminal courts.

Amazingly, he was absolved. Certain that this absolution decision would be reversed, the Public Ministry (copyright violation is a crime of public initiative in Brazil) filed an appeal against the trial court’s decision and the Appeal Court said that it would confirm the absolution given that the “diffusion and acceptance by society (in all levels of the socioeconomical organization) of the commercialization of pirate CDs”. The decision also cites an obscure decision from Minas Gerais whereby a street vendor was also absolved under the justification that piracy is fomented by the Goverment because it authorizes the functioning of popular malls which sell pirate goods.

Continue reading →

Category Archives: Piracy

My Completely Unsolicited Comments on The SOPA and PIPA Issue

Brazil Creates Trademark Database for Use by Law Enforcement Officials

Piracy has been accepted by society; therefore, it is legal

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