Bayer CropScience says, “Strong patent protection is the basis for our innovation power.” Now, it’s putting this claim to a test by suing a Chinese company to enforce Bayer’s rights under its Chinese Mefenpyr patent.

Bayer CropScience – one of the world's leading innovative crop science companies in the area of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plant biotechnology – offers a wide range of products and services for modern, sustainable agriculture.

Jiangsu Tianrong Group – a large-scale private enterprise group - manufactures agrochemical products and specializes in the technical synthesis and formulation processing of insecticides and herbicides.

The two companies recently found themselves in court battling over Mefenpyr, a proprietary Bayer CropScience safener additive. When added to herbicides, safener protects crops by ensuring the rapid degradation of the herbicidal substance in crop plants. Mefenpyr, mixed with the herbicidal active ingredient Fenoxaprop-P-ethyl, is marketed under the brand name Puma® and is under patent protection in China and many other countries.

Bayer CropScience’s lawsuit claims that Jiangsu Tian Rong unlawfully produced Mefenpyr mixed with Fenoxaprop-P-ethyl and sold the product to local farmers and customers in other Asian countries. Dr. Ralf-Rudiger Jesse, Head of Patents & Licensing at Bayer CropScience, said they are confident of winning the case because “… based on Chinese law not only the manufacturing but also the export is prohibited for active ingredients still under the protection of valid patents.”

While Bayer CropScience wants to expand its presence in China, one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, it also wants to fully enforce its patent rights against illegal producers in China. According to Christophe Dumont, Head of the Strategic Business Entity Herbicides, the company needs the protection of patents to maintain its high level of investments n research and keep developing modern crop solutions for the Chinese farmers.

 “Without the protection of patents, innovation is all but impossible. Hence we recognize the efforts being made by the Chinese government to establish clear rules and regulations for the recognition of intellectual property (IP) rights”, he said.

But more importantly, Dumont added, the illegal manufacture and sale of products such as Mefenpyr not only transgresses Bayer CropScience’s patent rights, but also threaten harvest quality, danger to users, and harm to the environment, and health risks to consumers. Jiangsu Tian Rong has no comment at this point.

Bayer CropScience is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. It recently settled another lawsuit with Nufarm Americas Inc. over Bayers’ claim of infringement on its patent for the pesticide imidacloprid on fertilizer.