On June 28th, the Brazilian Government through the Special Secretariat of Culture opened a new public consultation on the need to reform and update the 1998 Copyright Act. The main goal is stated to be to “deal with the new technologies and new business models that have emerged over this period”. Accordingly, streaming services, content upload and sharing platforms, artificial intelligence and so on are on the list.

The call makes explicit reference to the EU Copyright Directive as well as initiatives on the USA and Canada and, as pointed out by Maurício Braga, secretary of Copyright and Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Citizenship, “The world is evolving and it is becoming apparent that there is a need for other approaches to adapt to the new reality, and this process has to be as democratic as possible,” he says.

The contributions will last for 60 days and will not be made public. There is no basic text to comment on, except the legislation itself. The contributions can be made at  http://cultura.gov.br/secretaria/secretarias/sdapi-secretaria-de-direitos-autorais-e-propriedade-intelectual/.