Not a real copy of the Beretta... Taurus purchased the plant, engineers, works, parts on hand and all related plans, specs, material and misc that Beretta no longer needed in Brazil. For a more detailed account of this purchase you would be better off reading the official Taurus history.
While Taurus was producing 92 pistols with remaining parts on hand, Taurus was also busy re-designing the pistol with improvements like moving the mag release from the bottom of the grip to where it is now and moving the safety down onto the frame where it should have been all along. Where I visited Taurus in the early 1980's they made other minor upgrades to the quality of the materials and metals, compared to what beretta had been using. Yes, Beretta moved their mag release after Taurus did.