BIOTECH giant Bayer has showed it plans to play hardball on any patent infringements across the globe, securing a partial success in enforcing patent rights in the notoriously hard to win Chinese courts.
A Chinese chemical supplier was adjudged to have infringed on Bayer's patent on the Mefenpyr safener patent and was ordered to stop selling the product and pay compensation.
In its judgement at first instance, the court in Wuxi recently ordered the Chinese company Jiangsu Tian Rong Group Ltd (Tian Rong) to stop selling the crop protection product Mefenpyr in infringement of patent rights and to pay compensation to Bayer CropScience.
Bayer said the verdict was a strong indication that patent infringement was now being taken seriously in China, where patent and copyright issues have traditionally not been a high priority.
"The court’s decision sends a strong signal to Chinese companies, warning them against patent infringements of this kind," commented Dr Ralf-Rüdiger Jesse, Head of Patents & Licensing at Bayer CropScience.
Safeners, which are rapidly absorbed by crop plants, are added to herbicides to accelerate their degradation and prevent damage to the plants.
Bayer CropScience sells Mefenpyr in mixtures with the foliar herbicide Fenoxaprop-P-ethyl under the brand name Puma.
The herbicide is used for weed grass control in cereal crops.
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