We held our conference in Sao Paulo today on "Intellectual Property in the Digital World - The Importance for Brazilian Development". Thanks in large part to our partner, ABPI (the Brazilian Association for Intellectual Property), the conference was, I think, a resounding success. There was a lot of interesting and sometimes spirited discussion, particularly during the session on the patentability of software. Of most significance was the request by Congressman Julio Semeghini that Gustavo Leonardos (the president of ABPI) help in organizing a congressional hearing on the issues discussed at our conference. This is the type of extended policy discussion that could be really beneficial for Brazil. The conference also heard a suggestion by Congressman Julio Lopes that the patent office should be moved to the Ministry of Justice. The purpose of this proposal - which appears to be clearly a long shot - is to move the patent approval process to a less political environment where the law could be more neutrally applied.