Bill 74/1875, by José de Alencar, and the current debate on public domain in the Copyright law

Abstract

This paper analyzes Bill 74 of June 7th, 1875, by José de Alencar (1829-1877), an writer and congressman who intended the hereditary transmission – without any time limitation – of the author´s patrimonial rights, under the argument that the “artistic and literary property” deserves the same perpetuity status of the property (movable and immovable) that is studied by civil lawyers. Despite the fact that the bill has not been approved or even debated by the House of Representatives, it remains able to instigate some controversy between the ones who are more flexible and the conservatives. Would the well-known “intellectual property” be a real property? Therefore, a proprietary vision based school of thoughts still pleads consecutive extensions of the legal term of the author´s patrimonial rights, in order to postpone, as much as possible, the moment that the intellectual works become public domain. Otherwise, the reflection about the balance between the private interest (of the authors, successors and assignees on their exercise of the exclusivity rights) and the public interest (of the community in its exercise of the right to culture and information) is on the agenda.