Copyright, open Internet, Access to Knowledge (A2K), data protection, freedom of expression, policy, patent, privacy, and photography

Last March 22 Brazil’s Ministry of Culture made public the “March 2011 Copyright Draft Bill” (PDF file, in Portuguese), an amended version of the 2010 Draft Bill, after it was sent by the former administration, i.e. in late 2010, to the Inter-Ministerial Group on Intellectual Property (GIPI, under the Portuguese acronym).

The 2010 text was revised by all Ministries, amended, and then sent on December 23, 2010 to the President’s Office. Since Brazil has a new president from January 1st 2011, then the draft bill was returned to the Ministry of Culture early this year, and they made it public on the 22nd of March. To make it clear: the new current administration made the new text public, however the drafting and amendments took place in late 2010 still under Lula’s administration.

According to the Ministry’s press release, no later than Thursday, the 21st of April (30 days after the publication of the March 2011 Draft), the Ministry will publish the schedule with the steps for the revised proposal. A small note on this: Thursday is national holiday in Brazil – so taking into account that the press release mentions that within 30 days from the release the Ministry would make the schedule available, it means that, at least in theory, it should be out tomorrow, the 20th of April.

Yet, according to some sources, there is apparently a report with over 150 pages made by the former administration explaining and justifying the changes and amendments that now appear in the March 2011 text, but the Ministry has not made it publicly available, which is a pity, because it would help analyzing and understanding some of the many changes in the new text.

The Ministry has just informed of a conference which will take place in Salvador on the 18th of May with the Ministry’s support: with a couple of exceptions, virtually all the speakers have some relation with the collecting society (ECAD) or with copyright holders. None of the several advocates or professors doing work on the consumer’s and society’s perspective have been called to speak at the conference, as well as none of the authors that have been heavily criticizing the new administration, and who are urging for a copyright reform. Supporters of an eternal copyright duration (video interview with Mr. Hildebrando Pontes Neto, in Portuguese), however have been invited to speak at the conference.

The heated debate continues. The new Minister is under pressure, but it seems that someone with influence in the government might still be backing her up. The whole work and progress of the past 8 years undertaken under Lula’s government is at risk.

For other stories on Brazil’s Copyright Reform, in English, see: 1, 2, and 3.