Hanwha Q-Cells wins patent lawsuits against JinkoSolar, REC Solar and also Longi in Germany

• The Düsseldorf Regional Court has concurred rivals of the Korean manufacturer unlawfully utilized its copyrighted passivation innovation. The judges provided Hanwha Q-Cells an injunction which requires Jinko, REC as well as Longi to get all modules including the copyrighted innovation distributed in Germany since late January last year. Hanwha can also choose to have the offending products destroyed.

The Düsseldorf Regional Court has actually maintained a patent violation match lodged by Korean supplier Hanwha Q-Cells.

The courts ruled JinkoSolar, REC Solar and Longi Solar infringed intellectual property rights by illegally making use of patented passivation modern technology in their solar cells.

The ruling connects to the German part of European patent EP 2 220 689-- referred to as the 689 patent-- which the firms went against. The patent worries passivation technology Hanwha Q-Cells had been researching since 2008 and which is used to boost the efficiency of its PERC solar batteries.

The judges on Tuesday ruled Jinko, REC and Longi made use of the patented innovation in particular solar components without having signed certificate arrangements with Hanwha Q-Cells.

Devastation

The Korean company stated in a statement, its rivals breached its copyright rights by importing the upseting items to Germany and marketing as well as offering them in the country. The courts in Düsseldorf provided injunctive relief to Hanwha, restricting the import and sale of the items in question and also needing the defendants in the case to remember patent-infringing items sold in Germany considering that January 30, 2019. The judgment likewise granted Hanwha the right to call for the upseting items to be destroyed.

The Korean firm stated the choice of the court is provisionally enforceable after Hanwha Q-Cells provides security.

The supplier said it will certainly now discover exactly how to establish purposeful options for the firm and also for a healthy and balanced advancement landscape in the solar market.

Jinko, REC as well as Longi have actually not responded to pv publication's ask for remark.

Warranted

" We are pleased that the Düsseldorf Regional Court confirmed what we understood from the beginning," stated Daniel Jeong, primary modern technology officer for Hanwha Q-Cells GmbH. "We firmly believe that our technique offers to protect our building rights and also, at the same time, to enhance the confidence of the industry that time-consuming and also capital-intensive R&D efforts are safeguarded." He included: "Furthermore, we can not neglect the opportunity that the charged firms may have used the 689 patent to their various other products. Q-Cells will remain to take all necessary procedures, ought to our civil liberties be violated by one more event in other areas-- including direct lawful option and also industry dialogue."

Jeong likewise referred to a case lodged by Hanwha in the U.S. in regard to the exact same innovation, against the exact same competitors, which saw the International Trade Commission (ITC) dismiss the claim. The innovation chief said: "With regard to the current U.S. ITC choice on [the] patent violation suit, we will appeal versus it."

In March last year, Hanwha filed its German legal action with the Düsseldorf District Court. The manufacturer additionally filed a claim against rivals in the United States, as well as later on Australia, for presumably infringing patents in those markets. No ruling has yet been issued in the Australian situation. An opposition procedure against Hanwha's patent is likewise pending prior to the European Patent Office as well as seeks to challenge the lawful status of the patent.