Court backs Nosso Palestra, Palmeiras Online guilty of copyright breach | OneFootball

The São Paulo State Court of Justice confirmed this Friday (3) the conviction of the website ‘Palmeiras Online’ for copyright infringement of at least 8 articles published by NOSSO PALESTRA in 2023 and ordered the removal of these reports, which used NP’s content, within 10 days.

NOSSO PALESTRA filed a lawsuit on November 12, 2023, after noticing the clear use of its content in publications by ‘Palmeiras Online’—plagiarism, in practice. The judicial expert report prepared by IBRAPPI (Brazilian Institute of Arbitrators and Experts in Intellectual Property) concluded that there were only superficial reformulations of NP’s texts, with merely lexical or syntactic changes, something the court described as “parasitic appropriation.”

On March 10, 2025, the court ruled that Thiago Stanisci Gomes, owner of the ‘Palmeiras Online’ page, “failed to produce suitable evidence capable of demonstrating that he himself, or a third party hired by him, had authentically and originally produced the journalistic reports published on his portal, regardless of the content of the reports previously published by NOSSO PALESTRA,” and that the site “used grammatical resources such as paraphrasing and inversion of excerpt order, conduct that does not disqualify unauthorized reproduction nor attributes originality to the questioned publications,” resulting in a “clear violation of copyright.”

The person responsible for the condemned site appealed the decision, but the São Paulo State Court of Justice unanimously denied the appeal and upheld the conviction imposed at first instance.

This Friday, the decision became final and unappealable. With no further appeals, only the removal of the articles from the competing site and the payment of court costs, expert fees, and attorney’s fees remain pending.

Below is the official statement from NOSSO PALESTRA regarding the case:

To begin with, Nosso Palestra deems it appropriate to inform its readers that recent episodes have compelled this outlet to defend its editorial values. Let us explain.

It is worth recalling that, on October 23, 2023, Nosso Palestra was the target of public statements made by Thiago Stanisci Gomes, administrator of the “palmeirasonline” website. At the time, an official statement was released by that page claiming it was being “accused” of copying journalistic content and committing plagiarism https://x.com/palmeirasonline/status/1716525892841738304 .

This was because, days earlier, Nosso Palestra had presented him with a substantial list of articles whose content had been reproduced and altered—either directly by Mr. Thiago or through members of his team—without consent or mention of the NP contributors’ authorship.

Nevertheless, in the statement released, Mr. Thiago sought to absolve himself of responsibility, stating that “in commitment to our readers, we wish to repudiate such claims and inform that the issues raised are regular and supported by the principle of limitation to copyright, according to Law 9.610/98, in addition to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press and expression.”

He further added that his team was composed of “journalists, journalism students, and serial professionals,” in an evident attempt to lend legitimacy to the harmful conduct already attributed to him.

Very well. Faced with this scenario, and considering that Mr. Thiago and his self-proclaimed team of “serious journalists”—whose names, as a matter of prudence, we have chosen to withhold, hoping they may realign their practices in light of ethics and professional decorum—persisted in the repeated practice of intellectual misappropriation, NP had no alternative but to file a specific lawsuit to curb such predatory conduct (Case No. 1174512-33.2023.8.26.0100).

Once the proceedings were completed and the technical examination of the texts concluded, what had been evident from the start was confirmed: the Palmeiras Online website appropriated journalistic content produced by Nosso Palestra.

In fact, the expert report prepared by IBRAPPI – Brazilian Institute of Arbitrators and Experts in Intellectual Property Ltd. pointed out that the articles published on the “Palmeiras Online” portal were nothing more than superficial reformulations of Nosso Palestra’s texts, with merely lexical or syntactic changes—in true parasitic appropriation, without any trace of creativity that would confer authorial autonomy, aggravated by the clear practice of unfair competition (in the words of the expert report itself):

Based on this body of evidence, the judgment rendered on March 10, 2025, granted Nosso Palestra’s requests, recognizing that Thiago Stanisci Gomes “failed to produce suitable evidence capable of demonstrating that he himself, or a third party hired by him, had authentically and originally produced the journalistic reports published on his portal, regardless of the content of the reports previously published by Nosso Palestra”

The decision also noted that “the defendant used grammatical resources such as paraphrasing and inversion of excerpt order, conduct that does not disqualify unauthorized reproduction nor attributes originality to the questioned publications. Therefore, there was a clear violation of copyright”:

In light of this, the order for the immediate removal of the improperly appropriated content—including that redistributed to partners—was the only possible legal outcome to restore legality and protect the integrity of Nosso Palestra’s works:

In a vain and desperate attempt to justify his plagiaristic conduct under the guarantee of freedom of expression, Thiago Stanisci appealed the sentence—but also lost. On August 21, 2025, by unanimous vote, the São Paulo State Court of Justice denied the appeal he filed and upheld the conviction imposed at first instance.

Highlighted from the ruling:

“The fact that the parties address the same topic does not disqualify the violation of copyright, given the proven reproduction and alteration of excerpts from the articles created by the appellees by the appellant without any authorization, and the perpetrator of the offense cannot justify his conduct under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression.”

The case became final and unappealable, as certified on this date, leaving Mr. Thiago with the obligation to remove the appropriated articles within a maximum period of 10 days, under penalty of a fine for non-compliance

This outcome seems to demonstrate that only judicial intervention was able to curb such a blatant breach of good faith and the duty of competitive loyalty. These are principles that, in theory, should underpin the coexistence of media outlets identified with the same thematic sphere and aimed at a common audience in the Palmeiras universe.

It is in this spirit that Nosso Palestra warns journalists, students, and collaborators linked to “Palmeiras Online” about the need for caution while its administrator does not review and correct his plagiaristic editorial practices.

Let it be clear: condoning environments that do not care about violating what is most valuable to a journalist (their intellect) can compromise—not only one’s academic trajectory—but also the public and future reputation of any professional who associates with such conduct.

Nosso Palestra concludes by renewing its commitment to the integrity of sports journalism and to the appreciation of independent, specialized media.

New attempts at editorial misappropriation will be subject to appropriate legal action.

Board.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.