The Brazilian Justice determines the bringing of action to punish crime against copyright.
Time Warner Entertainment Company L.P., DC Comics and Hanna Barbera Productions, Inc. had a favorable decision in court injunction filed against the Judge of the DIPO – Department of Police Investigations and Judiciary Police of São Paulo to plead the continuation of lawsuit brought by these same companies against Little Moon Comércio de Brinquedos Ltda. for the unauthorized use of cartoon characters, such as Batman, Tom and Jerry, Tweety and Bugs Bunny.
The Public Prosecution Service, in charge of presenting petition for the commencement of suits, has constantly determined the shelving of this kind of suit since, in its judgement, the unauthorized use of characters, at an industrial scale, constitutes infringement of trademark rather than copyright. Thus, the company would have to have these characters registered as trademarks to be able to stop third parties from using them.
