The 3rd Panel of the Superior Court of Justice1 (STJ) ordered the broadcast company SBT to pay damages to the artist MC Leozinho of R$ 20,000 due to the unauthorized use of a part of the chorus of one of his songs as the name of a television program.
In 2010, the defendant tried to obtain a copyright license to use the song “Se ela dança, eu danço” in the opening of its reality show, but the artist rejected the proposal. Despite such rejection, the song was used not only as a track on the SBT show, but also as its name.
According to STJ, the copyright infringement was caused by the reproduction of the song in the show and by the use of its chorus to name the reality show, unlike the lower courts decisions that limited the infringement to the use of the music as a track .
1 REsp 1.704.189