Copyright protection of comprehensive original creations

Abstract

The opinion addresses the copyright protection of the Cidade Matarazzo Complex, characterized as a comprehensive original creation. It argues that the Complex is protected both as a collection of specific works and as a unified expression of an original concept — a legal category corresponding to the aesthetic notion of a total or comprehensive work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk). This protection includes the author’s moral rights, particularly the rights to attribution, to prior consultation regarding modifications, and to oppose unauthorized reproductions, both in Brazil and abroad. The opinion affirms that expert evidence is required to establish authorship, as notarial records are insufficient for this purpose. Finally, it rules out the possibility of arbitration, since the rights in question — the author’s moral rights — are neither economic in nature nor freely disposable, and therefore fall outside the scope of arbitration under Brazilian law.