Viral AI-Generated Taylor Swift Track Ignites Copyright Debate in Brazil

AI-Generated Track Sparks Controversy

A Brazilian rendition of Taylor Swift's 'The Fate of Ophelia,' created using artificial intelligence and titled 'A Sina de Ofélia,' recently went viral, reaching Spotify's Top 50 chart in Brazil before its removal in late December. The track utilized synthetic voices modeled after prominent Brazilian pop artists Luísa Sonza and Dilsinho, highlighting significant legal gray areas concerning AI, authorship, and unfair competition within Brazil's copyright framework.

Despite its removal from Spotify, which implemented rules in September 2025 to curb AI misuse, including banning unauthorized imitation of artists, 'A Sina de Ofélia' continues to be widely available on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. Some videos featuring the track have accumulated millions of views, and Luísa Sonza herself posted reaction videos on TikTok that garnered nearly 18 million views.

Legal Landscape and Ambiguities

Brazilian copyright law currently mandates human intellectual creation for a work to receive protection, leading to uncertainty regarding the authorship of content generated by artificial intelligence. Legal experts, including Juliana Sene Ikeda of Campos Thomaz Advogados and Paula Celano of BBL Advogados, have pointed out several unresolved issues. These include defining authorship in AI-generated works, distinguishing between legitimate artistic inspiration and improper appropriation of identity, determining the responsibility of platforms, and regulating the use of protected works for AI system training.

The spread of AI-generated music that mimics recognizable voices and styles poses a challenge to the music industry, as AI systems can produce content at a scale and speed that human artists cannot match. This raises concerns about potential economic exploitation and unfair competition for human creators.

Emerging Legal Precedents and Legislative Efforts

While Brazil has yet to see major court cases specifically addressing the use of artists' voices or plagiarism in AI-generated music, a notable decision emerged from Santa Catarina. In August, the Santa Catarina state court ruled against the Spitz Aventura amusement park, which had argued against paying public performance fees for AI-generated music. The court determined that AI-generated music is not automatically exempt from copyright obligations, and the absence of an identifiable human author does not preclude the collection of public performance fees. The court's finding suggested that AI-generated music often constitutes a derivative creation based on pre-existing compositions.

In a significant move towards comprehensive regulation, Brazil's Senate approved Bill 2,338/2023, known as the AI Bill, in December 2024. This legislation includes a dedicated chapter on copyright protections for AI-generated content. Key provisions of the bill include:

• AI software developers must disclose the copyrighted materials used to train their systems.
• Establishment of a regulatory body for AI to facilitate negotiations for payments between developers and creators whose works are used in training models.
• The right for creators to prohibit their works from being used for AI training or to authorize such usage through direct contracts or collective management organizations.
• Remuneration for creators will consider factors such as the AI company's size, the frequency of protected material use in machine-generated content, and the potential competition posed to human creators.

This bill is being hailed as a potential global benchmark for copyright protection in the age of artificial intelligence. Separately, Bill 303/2024, introduced in February 2024, aims to amend the Industrial Property Law to potentially recognize AI systems as inventors, though this proposal faces criticism due to the current legal requirement for a natural person to be an inventor.