Food for thought.

A toy vendor wanders near a beach resort in Imbassai, Bahia state, Brazil, his body obscured by a veritable who's who of inflatable toys: SpongeBob SquarePants. a Power Ranger, Odie of Garfield fame and Winnie the Pooh are joined by a clownfish not unlike Nemo (although green, not orange). Judging from the low quality of the designs, these are probably knockoffs made in China and imported by the thousands. An October 2005 study by U.S. economic advisors Robert Shapiro and Kevin Hassett put the value of just U.S. intellectual property at US$5 trillion, a third of total stock market value of all U.S. equities (of which an unknown amount, although surely billions, is stolen annually).

Comparatively, developed countries spend $279 billion a year of public money to support farmers, of which 74% in 2004 was "trade-distorting" spending, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Translation: Tax money spent to defend rich-country farmers from poor-country food imports. It might seem important enough to help poor African and Brazilian farmers compete on an even footing in the world's biggest markets. But that's small potatoes: A serious intellectual property climate means Brazilian, Indian, Chinese or Mexican innovations--of which there are plenty--stand a chance to pay back their home countries in future investment and wealth, something soy and sugar exports alone will never guarantee.