The treatment of electronic games copyright protection in Brazil: analysis of copyright law and software law application.

The article focuses on the legal classification and intellectual property (IP) protection of electronic games in Brazil, a rapidly growing market and the fifth largest globally by number of players. It highlights the ongoing debate over whether electronic games should be legally treated as audiovisual works, computer programs, or a hybrid of both, noting that Brazilian law currently applies multiple IP regimes—Copyright Law (Law No. 9.610/98), Software Law (Law No. 9.609/98), and Industrial Property Law (Law No. 9.279/96)—to different elements of games such as source code, audiovisual content, trademarks, and patents. The article explains that under Brazilian law, copyright ownership of software developed under employment typically vests with the employer, limiting programmers’ moral and economic rights, and that the fragmented registration system for game components complicates legal protection. It concludes by proposing a unified legal framework recognizing electronic games as functional software with integrated audiovisual elements to enhance IP protection and support the domestic gaming industry's growth.