Copyright registration in Brazil may now be submitted via online system

While registration is not mandatory in Brazil for copyright protection, it is a recommended measure as it may serve as evidence of prior creation in case of a dispute regarding the authorship of the work.

Under Brazilian Law, copyright work may be registered before several public offices depending on the nature of the work (eg: literary text, sculpture, etc). The office responsible for registration of most copyrightable work is the National Library Foundation which until now accepted only an in-person application before one of its regional offices or application by mail.

As of October 3, 2022, the Foundation accepts online copyright registration requests through the GOV.BR platform. Applicant (whether directly or through an attorney/representative) must provide personal information as well as details regarding the work such as title, genre, whether it has been published or not, pay respective official fees and upload the requested form (available only in Portuguese) in the platform accompanied by all required documentation. The granting of the certificate of registration is issued after formal analysis is completed which is currently taking approximately 12 (twelve) months.

The initiative is part of the Digital Transformation Plan of the Ministry of Tourism effort to reduce bureaucracy and simplify access to copyright registration services.

It is worth noting that the online registration process of copyright work is only available for the National Library Foundation while the other offices responsible for copyright registration, such as Federal University of Rio de Janeiro’s Fine Arts School, have not modified their respective registration procedure so consulting the specific applicable rules is recommended.

For further information or any assistance on this matter or clarifications, do not hesitate to contact us at mkt&ent_law@kasznarleonardos.com.