On last Monday, August 27, 2018, the Ministry of Culture (MinC) published the registration request of three new societies in the Official Gazette, namely being the Brazilian Directors of Cinema and Audiovisual Works (DBCA), the Scriptwriters’ Copyrights Management Group (GEDAR), and InterArtis Brasil that represents audiovisual artists’ works. With this publication, the registration request of these societies is now open for public consultation for the following thirty (30) days, allowing the civil society to present its comments and opinions, pursuant to the MinC’s Normative Instruction 3 of 2015.
Registration before the MinC is the initial step to be taken in order to allow such associations to charge the royalties due to authors and artists, for related rights arising from the public exhibition of audiovisual works in Brazil, arguably through any means, including movie theaters, television channels, or online platforms, as per Copyright Law (Law 9,610/98), Article 98A, §1.
Once the deadline for public consultation has expired, the MinC must decide if the registration of these associations is to be accepted. After such decision is made, interested parties may appeal within ten (10) days. If registered, these associations will be able to define criteria for charging and collecting such royalties, but these activities will be subject to the scrutiny of the MinC itself.
It should be emphasized that, in Brazil today, there are only collecting societies for royalties in regard to musical works. Moreover, charging and distribution activities of such amounts are centralized in a single entity called ECAD, under the terms of the current legislation.
The publication in the Official Gazette (in Portuguese) may be accessed here.
