Chinese solar manufacturer Trina Solar has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Canadian Solar and three of its subsidiaries, among them Recurrent Energy in the US.
Filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, the lawsuit claims that Canadian Solar’s three subsidiaries are infringing on two US patents from Trina regarding tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) module technology.
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The lawsuit brought by Trina Solar in the US is for patents No. 9,722,104 and 10,230,009 “by the manufacture, use, offer to sell, sale of, and/or importation into the United States” from Canadian Solar of solar cells and solar modules that include the cells.
“Trinasolar takes patent infringement very seriously and we will always take the necessary action to protect our intellectual property,” said Steven Zhu, president of Trinasolar US. “We have significantly invested in our company’s TOPCon technology and need to make sure we protect our patents accordingly.”
“Canadian Solar respects and takes very seriously its own intellectual property rights and those of third parties. In our view, this is a frivolous lawsuit, and we expect the court will find that our proprietary TOPCon technology does not infringe on the patents claimed by Trina,” said Adam Walters, general counsel, Americas at Canadian Solar’s Modules and Systems Solutions business.
This is the latest patent infringement Trina Solar filed in the US and follows a previous one earlier this month. The Chinese solar manufacturer filed a patent infringement complaint with the US International Trade Commission regarding TOPCon PV products being imported and sold by branches of Chinese PV manufacturer Runergy and Indian firm Adani Green Energy. Following the patent infringement claim, Runergy petitioned the US Patent and Trademark Office to cancel two patent infringement complaints filed by Trina Solar relating the import and sale of solar cells by Runergy and Adani Green Energy.
Patent infringement lawsuits have increased in the past few months, both in the US and Europe, with many solar manufacturers filing lawsuits regarding TOPCon technology, including JA Solar, Maxeon, or thin-film solar manufacturer First Solar.
Updated on 28 October 2024 to include a statement from Trina Solar.
