SOURCE: Titanium Media

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on the evening of March 28, Artes (688472.SH) responded positively to the news that TCL Central (002129.SZ) had previously been sued for patent infringement by Maxeon, a joint-stock company. Ates said that so far, CSIQ, the controlling shareholder, and any subsidiary or branch of the company have not received any formal litigation documents issued by the court related to the above-mentioned matters, which will not have a material impact on the production and operation of the company.

This is not the first time Maxeon has sued other photovoltaic companies for patent infringement, and Artes is not the first time it has been involved. Since last year, Maxeon has also sued related parties such as Tongwei (600438.SH) and Aixu (600732.SH). Titanium media APP noted that patent disputes one after another, often accompanied by the innovation of photovoltaic cell technology, behind more market disputes.

In the face of overcapacity in China, fierce competition at low prices, and a high probability of slowing down the growth rate of market demand, a new round of photovoltaic going out to sea has quietly begun. For the sea of photovoltaic enterprises, around the patent disputes in the market or will further intensify.

Artes Involved in Patent Dispute

Artes announced that recently the company learned that Maxeon Company filed a lawsuit against CSIQ, the controlling shareholder of the company, in the Eastern District Federal Court of Texas, claiming that CSIQ, through its affiliated companies, directly or indirectly damaged three TOPCon patents held by Maxeon Company for photovoltaic cells. The three patents are Maxeon U.S. Patent No. 8222516 ("516 Patent") announced on July 17, 2012, 8878053 issued on November 4, 2014 (the "053 Patent"), and 11251315 issued on February 15, 2022 (the "315 Patent").

Public information shows that Artes returned to A in June last year and is one of the world's major manufacturers of photovoltaic modules and large-scale energy storage system products. Its core business is the research and development, production and sales of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules. CSIQ is a holding company that went public in the United States in November 2006 and holds stakes in several operating entities, including ATS.

Artes and Longi Green Energy (601012.SH), Trina Solar Energy (688599.SH), Jingke Energy (688223.SH), Jingao Technology (002459.SZ) are also known as the "Component Five Giant". According to the InfoLink's disclosure of the 2023 global component shipment ranking list, the top four manufacturers in 2023 are Jingke Energy, Longji Green Energy/Trina Solar Energy and Jingao Technology, accounting for about 60% of the total volume of the Top10 list. Tongwei shares, Artes tied for the fifth largest global component shipments list.

However, the watershed between component manufacturers is clearly divided, with a 20GW gap in shipments between the top four manufacturers and the fifth starting manufacturers in 2022. But by 2023, the top four shipments started as high as 60GW, and the difference with the latter manufacturers increased to 30GW.

The background of the above dispute is that the domestic photovoltaic industry is in the technology iteration period, the use of N-type TOPCon, HJT and BC and other new generation battery technology module market share is accelerating. According to the prediction of third-party research institutions, in 2024, the proportion of N-type in the photovoltaic industry chain is expected to reach 70% or even higher, and the proportion of mainstream P-type may drop to about 20%.

Artes responded that as of now, CSIQ and any subsidiary or branch of the company have not received any formal litigation documents issued by the court related to the aforementioned matters.

"This matter will not have a material impact on the company's production and operation. If the company and the controlling shareholder subsequently receive formal litigation documents from the court, the company's legal and intellectual property team and external advisory team will carefully study and actively respond to the lawsuit and jointly defend the legitimate rights and interests of the company and the majority of shareholders in accordance with the law," Artes said.

Artes also mentioned that as of March 28, 2024, the company has applied for a total of 4508 patents, and currently maintains 2231 valid patents, forming a complete protection system for the company's business and products.

Patent War "Beacon" Frequent Burning

The above case is not an isolated case.

According to public information, in 2020, Maxeon filed a lawsuit against Artes Japan for infringing on its shingle module technology, demanding compensation of 10 million yen. In June 2022, the two sides reached a settlement and Artes temporarily withdrew from the Japanese shingle market until the second quarter of 2025.

on the evening of June 15, 2023, TCL central announced that the company had received notice from Maxeon company that tongwei solar energy (Hefei) co., ltd. and its subsidiary Tongwei Solar GmbH had used Maxeon company's patent with European patent number no EP3522045 B1 ("shingled solar cell module") without permission, this patent is Maxeon's proprietary underlying shingled battery assembly technology used to manufacture Performance assemblies. Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd. Has taken legal means to protect its own intellectual property rights, and filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Tongwei Solar (Hefei) Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary Tongwei Solar GmbH in the Dusseldorf District Court of Germany, claiming rights.

subsequently, tongwei shares issued the "statement of tongwei co., ltd. on the receipt of patent infringement lawsuits by subsidiaries" in response to the official wechat public number, saying that the current information could not show that the company's related products infringed the European patent of Maxeon. The company has hired local German lawyers to actively respond to the lawsuit and claim their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.

More than that. In November last year, Maxeon claimed that because Aixu shares, its subsidiary Aiko Energy Germany GmbH, Solarlab Aiko Europe GmbH and its distributor Memodo GmbH had used Maxeon's European patent No.EP2297788B1 ("back contact solar cell" or "BC cell") without permission, this patent is a proprietary underlying technology for ABC batteries (back contact cells) or IBC batteries (interdigitated back contact cells). Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd. Legal means have been taken to safeguard their intellectual property rights.

At that time, the BC technology path received widespread market attention as Longji Green Energy bet heavily on BC technology. Aixu shares are the only manufacturer of the domestic GW-class mass production N-type BC route.

Aixu shares have responded to the patent dispute with Maxeon, saying that the company's ABC battery has complete independent intellectual property rights, there is no so-called patent infringement, if the subsequent receipt of formal litigation documents, will actively respond to the lawsuit. At present, there is no public information on the final conclusion of the above two patent lawsuits.

A microcosm of the market battle

In the eyes of people in the industry, the technology of the photovoltaic industry continues to innovate, and various new technologies, products and services continue to emerge, and the photovoltaic industry chain is long and involves many links. The technological achievements and layout of different companies overlap, which is easy Cause disputes.

a person who has been observing the photovoltaic industry for a long time told titanium media APP that the disputes between relevant enterprises appear to be intellectual property disputes on the surface, but in fact, the increasingly cruel competitive environment in the industry is behind it. When the market position of some enterprises is impacted, they have the power to safeguard their own interests and shares through legal means. In other words, behind the patent dispute is the market dispute.

according to the announcement disclosed by TCL central, Maxeon company is headquartered in Singapore and is responsible for designing, manufacturing and selling solar modules of Maxeon and SunPower brands, covering more than 100 countries. its business covers Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe and America. its products cover the global photovoltaic roof and power station markets, with more than 1400 patents and two first-class solar module product lines.

it is reported that Maxeon announced in October last year that its performance was dragged down by factors such as slowing demand in the global distributed market and violation of payment contracts by the largest distributed customer in the United States. in view of the latest market situation, it will lay off 15% of its employees worldwide, and most of the layoffs are expected to be completed by the end of this year. The financial report shows that in the third quarter of last year, the company achieved revenue of $0.2276 billion, a significant decline from the previous quarter.

atlas has established a 5GW N TOPCon photovoltaic module factory in mesquite, Texas, USA. the factory has been officially put into operation in 2023 and has recently begun to deliver products.

according to the forecast of China photovoltaic industry association, the new installed capacity of photovoltaic in China is conservatively estimated to be 190GW in 2024, lower than that in 2023, and 220GW in optimistic situation, which is only basically the same as that in 2023. In 2024, the new installed capacity of global photovoltaic is expected to be between 390GW-430GW. This also means that in the case that my country's installed capacity growth rate may be negative or slow down significantly, the global installed capacity will still maintain positive growth, and the same year-on-year growth rate will reach 10% in an optimistic situation.

Since 2023, the domestic photovoltaic industry has faced many challenges, such as overcapacity, price reduction of the whole industry chain, and pressure on corporate profits. Under the severe situation of "internal volume", overseas investment and construction of factories has become a strategic choice for many photovoltaic enterprises to "break through.

in early 2023, jingao technology announced that it would invest us $60 million in Arizona to build a 2GW photovoltaic module plant, which is expected to be put into operation by the end of the year.

In March, Longi Green Energy announced a joint venture with US clean energy developer Invenergy to build a 5GW photovoltaic module manufacturing plant in Ohio.

in March, jingke energy invested us $81.37 million to build a new 1GW solar module production line in Florida, which is a further upgrade and expansion of the original photovoltaic module factory.

in may, TCL central said it had contacted Vision Industries Company signed a list of terms of cooperation to jointly establish a joint venture and invest in the construction of a photovoltaic crystal wafer factory project in Saudi Arabia;

In September, Trina Solar announced that it will spend US $0.2 billion to build a solar photovoltaic production plant in Wilmer, Texas...

An industry insider told the titanium media APP that while Chinese photovoltaic companies are advancing one after another, they are also facing many challenges in terms of uncertainty in international trade policies, factory construction costs that are several times higher than domestic ones, and labor costs. However, it is also a compulsory course for Chinese photovoltaic enterprises to pay more attention to and evaluate the patent risk. (This article started on Titanium Media APP, by Liu Fengru)

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