On The Antonin Scalia School of Tropical Jurisprudence

R7 reports on a jaw-dropping moment of political incorrectness,. The story runs above the fold  the front page of the Folha de S. Paulo and other dailies this morning, but the racial overtones are deemphasized. I translate the gist. An interview by Consultor Jurídico with former chief justice Cezar Peluso served as a pretext for Minister Joaquim Barbosa [...]

Corruption | Waterfall in Nextel Hell

Today, via Vlad, a newkey man in one of my endless siftings through egocentric networks in Portuguese. It is not for nothing that the Brazilian press picked up on the compliment paid last week to Brazil’s President Dilma by her fellow iron lady, Hillary Clinton. As a major political scandal shifts to high gear in the [...]

Sambodia | Overflowing Stacks of Hack Attacks!

The Folha de S. Paulo practices the journalism of ante hoc ergo propter hoc. A hacker invaded the personal e-mail of President Dilma Rousseff and copied e-mails she received during her victorious run for the presidency last year, according to a report by Matheus Leitão and Rubens Valente in today’s Folha (complete story available to subscribers of the Folha or [...]

Culture, Courts Debate the Commons of Copies

Conjur – Consultor Jurídico — reports The ministry of Culture and the federal appeals court, the STJ, will hold a seminar this week on Modernizing the Law of Copyright. The event is intended to finalize the draft of a bill thaqt will amend and add provision to the current law, Law 9,610/1998. Discussions and debates will [...]

The Antonin Scalia of the Tropics

Brazil has an Antonin Scalia of its own. His name is Gilmar Mendes, and his conduct on a number of occasions cannot but seem shocking to the outside observer. Unless, of course, that observer happens to be Italian. In recent years, Mendes has been doggedly pursued by reporter Leandro Fortes of Carta Capital magazine. Fortes [...]

Militia Watch | Justice Delayed in Witness Execution Case

Source of the above: Movement Against the Rio Militias From a standing news alert on Rio’s militias — paramilitary racketeering enterprises run mainly by off-duty or disgraced police, firemen and the odd soldier. These groups use heavily armed coercion to elect their own candidates to city hall and the state legislature, where they enjoy the [...]

Brazilian ASCAP Faces Antitrust Probe

Six of us see the sequel to Elite Squad for about USD$2. To see it in the theatre might have cost USD$70.  Ever since the incoming Minister of Culture took a firm stance against heavily promoted alternative models of global copyright such as Creative Commons — though not necessarily copyleft — her supposed ties to [...]

Brazil | “Foreign Lawyers Represent A Threat to Public Order!

Demarest & Aleida, one of the city’s most cosmopolitan firms, is the anchor tenant of the hideious Tomei Ohtake building, a local landmark. writing in the legal affairs tabloid Consultor Jurídico, DURVAL DE NORONHA GOYOS says: Gringos go home! My translation of the headline of the piece is quite accurate and literate. I translate some [...]

ECAD | Razing The Royalties Machine

Above: Scandal at ECAD — the Brazilian ASCAP! Cruelty to the beloved Creative Commons! A reform of authorial rights legislation that would prevent the labels from keeping everything! Falling out with prominent leftist intellectual Emir Sader, who is disinvited from heading the Rui Barbosa Institute!  Since the media blitz began here — Bring Me the [...]

Softex | Hard Sell from Intel

Softex, the software development arm of BNDES, announces:, and I translate an excerpt or two: Intel Brasil and Softex announce the signing of a Tecnical and Scientific Cooperation agreement that establishes a mutual commitment to the Brazilian software and IT services industry, inceasing Brazil’s share of a sector that already brings inUS$ 18.5 billion and [...]