Letter explains the risks of irregular use of software licenses
Aware of intellectual property rights, ABES and BSA-The Software Alliance prepared a letter warning CIOs of subsidiary companies in Brazil about the irregular use of software licenses in the country. Many foreign companies, despite being aware of the sanctions imposed by Brazilian legislation for the crime of infringement of intellectual property, are not always prepared to guarantee that all procedures are adopted for the use of duly legalized software.
However, it is essential that the subsidiaries make sure that the contracts signed by the foreign parent company expressly contain the granting of software licenses to companies in Brazil. Otherwise, these instruments will not be able to protect the local company from possible sanctions imposed by the Brazilian legislation applicable to the irregular use of software. With the express mention in the contract that the subsidiary is a licensed company, this document must transfer a certain number of licenses, according to the actual number of machines, in compliance with the software vendors' licensing rule
Regarding the tax aspect, they must be collected in Brazil. Both in licenses for the use of contracts signed by the foreign parent company, as in licenses eventually acquired directly by an end user outside the country, customs duties of ICMS, IPI, PIS/PASEP, COFINS and Import Tax must be paid, in addition to the ISS Import and withholding income tax.
The letter is available on ABES's Legal Entrepreneur Initiative website – access the link to download the document: www.empreendedorlegal.org.br.
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