In response to a complaint filed by Trinasolar US, the ITC seeks to determine whether Runergy and Adani are illegally infringing Trinasolar’s TOPCon patents.
After reviewing a complaint from Trinasolar US, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to establish a research from Runergy and Adani for possible patent infringement.
Trinasolar, a China-based solar panel supplier, filed a complaint in September with the ITC, alleging that Runergy and Adani Green Energy unlawfully imported and sold projects that infringed the patents for TOPCon solar cells.
After considering Trina’s complaint, the US government ordered an investigation into whether Runergy and Adani violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. In particular, the investigation will examine whether Runergy and Adani breached Trina’s tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon). patents on solar cell technology.
In the complaint, Trina Solar requested the ITC to issue a limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order against Runergy and Adani to prohibit the importation into the United States of certain solar cells, modules, panels, parts thereof, and products containing the following substances , to ban. the same ones that infringe Trina’s patents.
“Trina is pleased with the ITC’s decision to investigate the unauthorized use of our proprietary technology,” said Steven Zhu, president of Trinasolar US. “Trina’s commitment to protecting our intellectual property remains steadfast and we look forward to an early investigation by the ITC.”
In addition to this action before the ITC, Trinasolar has separate patent infringement lawsuits relating to TOPCon technology pending against Runergy in the District of Delaware and the Central District of California.
In October, Runergy asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a solution revoke two patents of Trina Solarclaiming that these are not patentable as they are not the result of Trina Solar’s own work.
“The patents were not purchased from others by Trina Solar until February 2024,” Runergy said in a statement. “As early as 2013, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy had already published and described the creation of TOPCon solar cells, following tenets published even earlier in the 1980s… The two patents acquired by Trina Solar were not released for more than a year submitted after the Fraunhofer Institute. Publication from 2013. Thus, they could not be patentable for attempts to cover TOPCon solar cells with only obvious variations already known in the prior art.”
Trina Solar is headquartered in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. Trinasolar US is currently developing a 5 GW manufacturing base in Wilmer, Texas. Jiangsu Runergy New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Yancheng City, China and in 2023 founded Runergy USA, which is building a solar energy factory in Alabama. Adani is headquartered in Mundran, India and is building a manufacturing facility in North Carolina.
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