Movement towards a more legalized environment

By Manoel Antonio dos Santos, legal director at ABES

It is clear that Brazilian society is structuring itself and, little by little, is creating mechanisms for an environment of greater obedience to legislation, similar to those experienced in more developed countries. A typical example is the creation of the new Anti-Corruption Law, which makes legal entities responsible for acts against the public administration, in addition to laws that are already part of society and which resulted in changes in common habits, such as the Anti-Smoking Law, the Prohibition Law and the City clean.

This movement also includes responsibility for the use of software in Brazil. The crime of software piracy brings concern not only to the technology sector and the consumer, but also to society as it fails to collect revenue and taxes, which could be reverted in the form of benefits for education and health. Nor can we forget the connection that piracy has with organized crime.

The Brazilian legislator considered that computer programs are such important technologies that he established two simultaneous mechanisms for copyright protection: a pecuniary penalty of up to 3,000 times the value of the software, combined with a penalty of deprivation of liberty of up to three years.

In force since January of this year, the new Anti-Corruption Law corroborates this new moment. The law takes care of the administrative and civil liability of companies for the practice of acts against the national and foreign public administration. This involves acts performed in Brazil by foreign companies and acts performed by Brazilian companies abroad, to the detriment of a foreign public entity. This responsibility does not fall only on the companies, but also extends to the directors and administrators of the corporation. The rule provides for very high compensation, in addition to custodial sentences.

Aiming to help the public and private sector to maintain adequate control of their software assets, ABES (Brazilian Association of Software Companies) launches this semester a Software Asset Management Manual, which will provide instructions on how to maintain the IT infrastructure of the company in accordance with the legislation in force, in addition to showing common mistakes made when licensing software.

A study recently published by BSA – The Software Alliance showed the global panorama of software piracy. The data reveal Brazil's advances in combating this practice, in addition to showing how the country is respecting intellectual property rights and valuing fair competition.

In Brazil, 50% of installed computer programs are pirated, according to this study. A much smaller index compared to the one found in the mid-80s, when ABES started its campaigns against piracy, which reached more than 91%. This recent result in Brazil was still considered the lowest piracy rate in Latin America and among the BRICS nations.

Although it is very worrying to know that half of the computer programs used in Brazil do not have authorization for use, all these facts above demonstrate that Brazil is moving towards a more legalized environment. It shows that the country is taking awareness, making it more competitive, avoiding problems such as those arising from the crime of piracy and corruption.