The "civil rights" concept, as accepted in the Unites States of America legal system, is referenced in Brazil by Article Five of the Brazilian Constitution and the subsequent set of rights named "Fundamental Rights and Guarantees". This paper discusses the fact that: although there is a constitutional guarantee of property, in regard to specific Brazilian federal laws (Software and Authors' Right Law) it might arise a tolerance or authorization to a form of "software plagiarism." The research was based on the Constitution, the Berne Convention, Federal Laws and legal doctrines of intellectual property and further extensive bibliographic review. At the end, it is demonstrated that there is a possible infringement of the property rights (civil rights), by violating the Brazilian Constitution itself or through the misinterpretation of the specific federal legislation.
Civil rights; Property rights; Intellectual property; Brazilian constitution; Software; Plagiarism
