A German court docket has issued a preliminary injunction ordering Trina Photo voltaic to cease promoting its Honey and Vertex X photo voltaic modules in Germany, as a result of they allegedly infringe Hanwha Q Cells’ patented passivation applied sciences.
Hanwha Options, the guardian of Hanwha Q Cellsrevealed that the district court docket in Düsseldorf, Germany, dominated that China’s Trina Photo voltaic infringes the German a part of the European Patent EP 2 220 689 B1, which covers the passive applied sciences of the South Korean group. The court docket issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting Trina Photo voltaic from importing, advertising and marketing and promoting the infringing merchandise – together with its Honey and Vertex X panels – on the German market.
In late October, Hanwha Options filed a preliminary injunction request through which it claimed that Trina Photo voltaic (Germany) improperly offered photo voltaic modules within the German market. It claimed that Trina Photo voltaic panels infringed on one in all its personal patents for its proprietary Q.ANTUM passivation expertise. This expertise is claimed to play an vital position in enhancing the efficiency of silicon-based photo voltaic cells.
Trina Photo voltaic now has the choice of contesting the preliminary injunction and difficult the choice earlier than it turns into ultimate. It stated that the matter won’t have a major affect on its enterprise operations.
“We don’t agree with any allegations of patent infringement as a result of the claims raised lack any authorized foundation or justification,” the corporate stated in a press release to pv journal. “We are going to aggressively defend our place and take motion towards the approaching non permanent restraining order of the court docket in Düsseldorf and we won’t relaxation till the case is dismissed.”
Moon-Hwan Cha, the managing director of Hanwha Q Cells, stated the case highlights the significance of defending mental property rights.
“We are going to vigorously defend our expertise from infringement utilizing the mental property legal guidelines that exist for this goal,” added Cha.
Hanwha Q Cells filed patent infringement complaints in Germany in March 2019 towards Jinko Photo voltaic and REC Group, and adopted up with an analogous case towards Longi Photo voltaic. All the complaints declare that the businesses unlawfully included Q Cells’ patented passivation expertise in their very own merchandise. In June 2020, the Düsseldorf regional court docket dominated that the three defendants infringed a part of the German patent. The attraction course of continues to be ongoing.
Hanwha Q Cells has additionally filed patent-related complaints in France, the Netherlands, and the USA. The US Court docket of Appeals decided that the contested patent criticism was invalid. The European Patent Workplace, alternatively, confirmed the validity of the passivation tech patent in June 2020, with minor modifications.
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