ax Immunity Granted to eBooks: the Constitutional Evolutionary Interpretation and the Problem of Exclusive Physical Media

Abstract

Faced with technological inovation, ebooks have become a fundamental tool in the daily lives of individuals and, thus, subject to criticism and of broad legal and jurisprudential debate. This paper debates the decision with general repercussion delievered by the Supreme Court of Brazil, which extended the tax immunity conferred on books, newspapers, periodicals and the printing paper, provided by Article 150, VI, d, of the Constitution, to digital or ebooks, provided that they are exclusive means for this purpose. It discusses the basis and problem of the evolutionary constitutional interpretation used as the rationale of the judgement by the court, and its repercussions for Brazilian tax law.