ABSTRACT
This chapter examines piracy in the Brazilian context, addressing the lexical range of the word “piracy” in everyday life. Analyzing national and international legal intellectual property (IP) frameworks while simultaneously highlighting local historical processes of criminalization of piracy in Brazil, the chapter begins by distinguishing several piratical practices (maritime, counterfeiting, digital). It then offers a history of the debate on geopolitical innovation, in which the relations between Brazil and the United States come to the forefront. It explores how piracy sustains and makes possible the productive spatial circuit for the Tecnobrega musical style in Belém do Pará. Literally translated as “tacky techno,” Tecnobrega includes both electronic versions of popular, cheesy songs and Brazilian versions of foreign hits. As the chapter shows, large sectors of the Brazilian population have been abandoned by both the state and the market; in that context, piracy becomes an effective and socially necessary way to enrich their social lives and to make work, study, and knowledge possible.
