Brazil’s copyright law caps a songwriter’s assignment of future works at five years, and an assignment only covers uses that existed on the day it was signed. Those two rules shape what a publisher or label actually owns in Brazil, whatever the contract claims.
They sit in Articles 49 to 51 of Lei 9.610, Brazil’s 1998 Copyright Law. If you are weighing a Brazilian publishing deal to reach the mechanical share, read these first.
The five limits in Articles 49 to 51
- Future works: five years, maximum. Article 51 caps any assignment of songs not yet written at five years. A longer or open-ended term is cut back to five, and the agreed price drops in proportion.
- No written term: five years. Under Article 49, III, where there is no written stipulation, the maximum term is five years. Article 50 says an assignment is always written and presumed paid.
- Territory: Brazil only by default. Article 49, IV makes an assignment valid only in the country where it was signed, unless the contract says otherwise.
- Uses: only those that existed at signing. That is Article 49, V. If no uses are specified, Article 49, VI limits the deal to the one use essential to its purpose.
- Read narrowly. Article 4 says copyright contracts are interpreted restrictively. Article 31 says permission for one use, from an author or a record producer, does not extend to any other.
Article 89 applies the author rules to performers and record producers “where applicable”, so label paperwork is not automatically outside them.
What the Roberto and Erasmo Carlos ruling decided
STJ means Superior Tribunal de Justiça, Brazil’s top court for federal law. On 12 November 2024 its Third Panel unanimously rejected a bid by Roberto Carlos and Erasmo Carlos’s estate to unwind their deals with Editora Fermata do Brasil. The publisher keeps the rights to 72 songs and may exploit them on streaming, Conjur’s Danilo Vital reported.
Two things carried it. The contracts expressly allowed “adaptation and transformation for any other form of exploitation”, and the courts read the writers’ declared intent as a total, definitive assignment rather than a publishing (edição) contract.
And Article 49, V does not reach contracts signed before the 1998 law took effect, per the case summary for REsp 2.029.976. Pre-1998 catalogue sits outside the existing-uses rule. Anything signed since sits inside it.
The fight is not over. STF means Supremo Tribunal Federal, the constitutional court, which took the appeal as Tema 1.403, so its ruling will bind similar cases nationwide. Justice Dias Toffoli held a public hearing on 27 October 2025 on two questions: exploiting works in the digital era, and the right to audit how works are used on streaming platforms, according to his order.
Toffoli framed it as a matter of “legal certainty in contractual relationships”, Billboard Brasil reported. No merits judgment had been reported at publication.
Clauses to check before you sign in Brazil
Term
- A future-songs clause longer than five years is cut back to five by law. Price the deal on five years.
Territory
- A contract signed in Brazil with no territory clause covers Brazil only. A foreign publisher or label wanting worldwide rights must write that in.
Uses
- List every use granted: reproduction, streaming, sync, public performance, adaptation. A use invented after signing needs fresh authorisation.
Deal type
- Name it: assignment (cessão), licence, or publishing contract (edição). Fermata held its catalogue because both the wording and the writers’ stated intent said “definitive”.
Audit and reporting
- Article 59 lets an author examine the publisher’s books “whatever the conditions of the contract”. Article 61 requires monthly accounts when pay depends on sales, unless agreed otherwise. Write the cycle down.
Registration
- Article 50 lets an assignment be noted on the work’s registration, or filed at a Cartório de Títulos e Documentos (a deeds registry) if the work is unregistered.
The distribution angle
The same four questions apply to a distribution agreement: licence or assignment, which territories, which uses, and for how long. Ask any distributor, InterSpace Distribution included, to answer them in writing before you move a catalogue, and have a Brazilian lawyer read anything you sign there.
