In the edition of August 12, 2009 the widely known and distributed Brazilian magazine Veja published a cover story titled "The Big Bang of the Internet."

Among the articles that would be published according to the magazine’s editor, one would be focused specifically on copyright and on the current discussions surrounding the copyright issue in Brazil and in the world.

Several experts around the world were interviewed, among them: Prof. Peter Drahos , a famous critic of the intellectual property system; Sisule Musungu, a reference in international intellectual property politics; Richard Stallman, a former MIT researcher and renowned creator of the operating system GNU/Linux - along with Linus Torvalds; Prof. Pedro Paranaguá , from Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, among others.

None of their answers nor comments were mentioned in the news article.

In order to promote access to information and enrich the debate, we thought it would be good to disclose the following answers given by Prof.. Pedro Paranaguá, from FGV School of Law - Rio, to the questions made by Veja magazine:

VEJA - The Internet has revolutionized the way people relate with each other and is imposing a new form of business to the entertainment industry. Despite the fact that the international conventions show the path for repression, the social practice goes to a different direction. How to solve this conflict?

PARANAGUÁ: Perhaps the problem lies precisely here: to find that there is conflict. The Internet has democratized access to information and entertainment. It eliminates intermediaries and lowers the chain of culture production. It makes consumers closer to authors and to the entertainment industry. It enables the industry to know what are the cultural preferences of its consumers. This creates an ocean of opportunity for all parties involved: industry, authors and consumers. Not to mention the possibility of a much higher financial gain than from the times of analog technology or even digital CDs and DVDs. Nowadays one only needs a HD or flash / pen drive (very cheap), a digital music player, a cellphone, etc. to have digital entertainment. It is useless to have rules or laws to prevent something that is widespread and socially accepted. If passed, these norms would not be legitimate, would not be accepted by the vast majority of society; they would not have social effectiveness, as the Italian jurist Norberto Bobbio would say. Legitimate is to do something that is accepted, that is welcome, and that will benefit the majority. The Internet should not be limited or filtered, but rather it should serve as a path to social, cultural and economic progress.

VEJA: Copyright laws were a victory for authors and for almost three centuries addressed the economic problems of the authors at the same time it increased the number of consumer enthusiasts. However, the Internet has questioned this model. This model is no longer viable?

PARANAGUÁ: I have my concerns if copyright laws were a victory of authors. I think it was more a victory of the publishing industry in England 299 years ago. Later, with the ideals of the French Revolution, the authors, flesh and blood - and not the industry - had their rights protected. It was a protection for the personality of authors, against the supremacy of monarchies. I also have my doubts if copyright laws solved the economic problems of the authors and if they have been responsible for increasing the number of consumer supporters. Even today we see the majority of authors receiving very little for their copyrights or even not getting a penny. The collection of copyrights is efficient, but its distribution is flawed. And in several cases the author does not receive a penny. There are cases, for instance, in which authors pay to publish books of his own - including Law Judges in Brazil. Not to mention the famous "jaba" - payment made by the author to have her/his song played on the radio. In short, within the artistic universe there are very few authors who really are compensated for their copyright. The poor distribution and low payment established by the copyright holders are largely responsible for this. The traditional model is in fact old fashioned. The Internet can — and should — be used to maximize access to knowledge and to increase the remuneration of everyone involved.

VEJA:There are other examples in history that the legislation did not follow the social behavior? What happened then? What was the solution to the problem?

PARANAGUÁ: Every change implies, in a greater or lesser degree, some resistance. We have current examples: in Iran, in theory a Republic, people are being deprived of their liberties. People are monitored, have their Internet connection cut; have websites filtered and/or blocked; they have their cell phone text messages blocked; have their satellite TV antennas, camcorders and cameras confiscated. Women are forbidden to leave home without having their head covered by a scarf. Hetero couples are barred from holding hands in the streets. These are clear and current forms of laws and acts that do not follow social behavior. I was in Iran last June and I personally know many Iranian men and women who would love to leave his/her own country because of not agreeing with the rules laid there, even though it is theoretically a democratic government. The result? Bloody demonstrations in the 21st Century. Rules or laws that are not legitimate never had been nor ever will be respected by society, unless there is employment of brute force, as that is unfortunately occurring in Iran.

VEJA: The industry argues that without copyright, innovation and intellectual property are at serious risk of having a significant reduction. Do you believe that intellectual property protection may undermine innovation? Are there studies and/or data that demonstrate your opinion?

PARANAGUÁ: This is rhetoric; marketing of fear. It has never been economically proven that if there were no copyright or patent system it would decrease creativity or innovation. There are for decades, on the contrary, several concerns about the efficiency of such systems. In the nineteenth century until today the renowned magazine The Economist has wondered about the efficiency of patents, and they even suggested that patent laws were abolished in England, which in fact was done in the Netherlands for over 40 years. Economists such as Frederick Mashlup and Edith Penrose came to similar conclusions 60 years ago. Today we have Paul David, of Oxford; Keith Maskus (University of Colorado), Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, all of them, just to name a few, questioning impartially and with economic basis the efficiency of the patent and copyright systems. I do not understand that intellectual property is completely dispensable. However, one has to bring a greater balance to the current scenario. One should not only protect, but also promote access to knowledge, education and health. The lack of balance is clear, specially in a country like Brazil, where family income is extremely low. So the question is not only legal, but much more economical and social. If the economic model applied by intellectual property owners is not improved, then the industry will continue to complain and it will self-suffocate. The prices as well as the business model must take into account the local society. There are several alternative models that are running in parallel, as the free and open source software licenses, the Creative Commons copyright licenses, among many others. Not to mention the boost of sales of CDs put entirely for free on the Internet, or the increase of sales of hard copies of books that were previously digitalized without the authorization of the copyright owners. In the end, what at first glance may seem a bad business, in practice it has proved to be very lucrative and consumer-friendly.

VEJA: Are there data and/or estimates of how many people are downloading music, films and books over the internet in the world?

PARANAGUÁ: There is plenty of data: both from the music industry (International Federation for the Phonographic Industry - IFPI), as well as from private consultancy firms or academics. The reality is that people like to share content, whether or not protected by copyright. People like to share. People often don’t even listen to the music or read the books that they downloaded from the Internet, as shown by a research made by Professor William Fisher of Harvard. In the same direction are the understandings of the worldwide known Brazilian science fiction novelist Paulo Coelho. Preventing people to download and to share content goes against a socially accepted practice, and does not make sense in the virtual world. The best way forward is to encourage the sharing and download of files, and to find a fair economic model, such as the charging of a fixed amount of money for unlimited downloads of any digital copyrighted content (books, movies, music etc.), should the broadband user clearly state that she/he wants to download copyrighted content.