“ I personally and my Company Bayer do support the IPQC as patents are core to enable our R&D to be sustainable in producing solutions for health and against hunger. Patents are due to reliably protecting the results of our efforts and therewith enabling such sustainable R&D by securing the appropriate recovery of expenses and benefits.

IPQC tries to prevent the EPO from continuing a strategy of enhancing what they call “productivity” which from our point of view leads to an erosion of substantial patent quality. We cannot afford this, so the IPQC likes to cooperate with the EPO to improve the situation and come back to the quality the EPO stands for. We think this is the right thing to do.”