COPYRIGHTS ON DIGITAL MUSIC PLATFORMS

On February 8, 2017, the Second Section of the Superior Court of Justice (“STJ”) has received the Special Appeal No. 1559264 filed by the Central Office of Collection and Distribution (“ECAD”).

It has been decided that the taxation on copyrights by the ECAD on internet musical broadcasts, via streaming, is legitimate. “Streaming” means the real time playback of media or the data distribution through packages.

By means of this decision, it is understood that the musical media reproduction via streaming fits in the concept of public reproduction, under the terms of Law No. 9.610/1998 (“Copyrights Law”), as it is accessible by anyone and by all virtual collectivity. Therefore, the activity becomes a taxable event of copyrights and shall be taxed.

In this context, applications which are already widely used in Brazil that offer digital music platform service shall pay to ECAD every time a song is played.

The Kestener, Granja & Vieira Advogados team is available to provide any further information required on this subject.

This article is intended exclusively to provide information and does not contain any opinion, recommendation or legal advice from KGV Advogados in relation to the matters herein addressed. Copyrights are reserved to Kestener, Granja & Vieira Advogados.