Letter written by Ambassador José Mauricio Bustani, published in the Financial Times on 6 February 2007.

Sir, The survey by Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (Bascap) on the protection of intellectual property, based on the subjective perceptions of a group of companies, appears somewhat removed from the reality of specific countries (report, January 29).

The survey ranks Brazil fourth worst in protecting intellectual property, whereas in fact the country prioritises the issue and has achieved extremely positive results on the basis of the National Plan for Combating Piracy launched in 2005. More than 1,000 raids were organised against illegal commercial operations between January and September 2006, and the value of total goods seized was 55 per cent higher than over the same period in 2005. Almost 7,000 police inquiries were carried out - more than over the entire course of 2005.

There has also been a national awareness-raising campaign regarding the negative consequences of buying counterfeit goods, the public and private sectors have co-operated in the implementation of economic measures aimed at reducing the price advantage of counterfeit products, and university law courses have been encouraged to include the subject of intellectual property.

Last October, Brazil's National Council for Combating Piracy received the Motion Picture Association of America's anti-piracy award for its contribution to the reduction of piracy and the raising of public and government awareness of the problem.

The protection of intellectual property in Brazil is entirely compatible with the nation's international commitments. An expression of this is the significant increase in Brazilian payments of international royalties associated with intellectual property since the signing of the trade-related intellectual property rights/World Trade Organisation agreement. Between 1995 and 2005, such payments rose from $414m to $2.3bn.