Intellectual property: Tobias Barreto – Rui Barbosa

Abstract

Two important nineteenth century characters are considered in this article. The first of these is Tobias Barreto, who at the Recife Law School never went unnoticed, both as a student and as a teacher. He developed original understandings on the law and, in his thesis for joining the faculty of that school, he innovated in conceptualizing copyright and introducing it among civil rights. The second, Rui Barbosa, whose brilliance in the political and juridical spheres of his time dispenses with more commentary, approaching an article of his authorship, in response to a columnist in a Bahian newspaper, in which he exposes about a feat, perhaps a pioneer in Brazil, relating to infringement of industrial property.