The Intellectual Property Judges' Association (IPJA) expresses in a letter to Mr Jesper Kongstad (Chairman of the Administrative Council) "the extreme concern of European Patent Judges" to the order of Mr Battistelli, acting on his own initiative, to physically remove a member of the Boards of Appeal from his office and to take possession of his computer.IPJA is the representative association of European National Patent Judges and their letter has near unanimous support and no objection by anyone. IPKat publishes a copy of the letter.

According to IPJA, the events "threaten the judicial independence of the Boards of Appeal [...] Not tolerating that should be the common interest of all Member States of the EPOrg". A copy of the letter will be sent to EPLAW, IPKat and Managing IP. Managing IP is the magazine which published the controversial interview of Mr Battistelli and Mr Kongstad on 19 December 2014.

Further concerns are raised by IPKat following astudy of the "Business Distribution Scheme for the Technical Boards of Appeal".This document is issued at the beginning of every year by the Enlarged Presidium of the Boards of Appeal and it sets out ("designates”) how the various Technical Boards of Appeal are to be made up, namely with the Chairman, the technical members and the legally qualified members. The scheme for 2015 is only stated to be for the period ending on 31 March 2015. Usually plans have been for the whole calendar year. In addition to that, some Boards have no Chairman, some are understaffed and re-appointments are still pending.

IPKat concludes that "A worrying but plausible conclusion is that it is to make the Members concerned more biddable as their term comes up. Any such pressure, whether subtle or overt, would of course completely conflict with accepted principles of judicial independence."