In the past six months, the photovoltaic industry has entered a trough, with multiple challenges such as price war pressure, market supply and demand imbalance, and deterioration of the trade environment. In order to compete for market share and profit margins, a number of photovoltaic companies have shown their magic powers, rapidly expanded N-type cell production lines, and competed to go overseas. Nowadays, in addition to the volume price, the industry competition has also rolled up patents.

On July 19, JA Solar (002459. SZ) has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the European Patent Court against several European subsidiaries of another Chinese PV giant, Chint New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. ("Chint New Energy"), alleging that the latter infringed one of its patents under the patent number "EP2787541-Solarcell".

JA Solar insiders told the Times that the above patents are the intellectual property rights of JA Solar's related TOPcon battery technology, and "at present, the company has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against CHINT's related companies in Europe."

Regarding this patent infringement lawsuit, Chint New Energy said that the company will actively respond to it, and is properly handling and advancing in accordance with the procedures to defend its position in an appropriate manner.

It remains to be seen how the patent disputes between the two PV giants will be resolved in the future.

In the past period of time, the price of the photovoltaic industry has declined, and the structural mismatch between supply and demand in the industry has become increasingly prominent, and many photovoltaic companies have increased their patent protection. Recently, Trina Solar (688599. SH) has repeatedly sued related companies for infringing its N-type TOPCon patent rights, and has successfully filed cases at home and abroad. NASDAQ-listed Maxeon, controlled by TCL Zhonghuan (002129.SZ), has sued a number of PV companies for patent infringement in the past two years.

The above-mentioned person pointed out that the current patent disputes between photovoltaic companies mainly focus on the mainstream battery technology TOPcon.

The patent war of photovoltaic giants has begun

In recent years, the mainstream technology trend of the photovoltaic market has been constantly changing, from the BSF and PERC era to the current TOPCon era. Among them, TOPCon of N-type technology route has gradually replaced PERC (P-type) cells as the new favorite of the end market due to its advantages of higher conversion efficiency, lower manufacturing cost and longer life. According to TrendForce, by the end of 2023, the production capacity of TOPCon technology cells will reach 570GW, accounting for about 84% of the total N-type production capacity.

JA Solar and Chint are both supporters of TOPCon technology.

Taking JA Solar as an example, as of the end of last year, it had 57GW of N-type cell production capacity, ranking second in the industry. JA Solar's TOPcon products have been delivered and mass-produced in a large area, and are still in continuous iteration, and the fifth-generation N-type Bycium+ cell has been launched with a conversion efficiency of over 26%.

CHINT Xinneng is an intelligent manufacturing enterprise focusing on photovoltaic cell modules under CHINT Group, whose development history can be traced back to 2006, and is one of the earliest private enterprises to enter the photovoltaic field in China, and one of the earliest enterprises in the industry to achieve mass production of N-type TOPCon modules.

In terms of R&D patents, as of the end of 2023, JA Solar has authorized 1,263 patents for independent R&D, including 285 invention patents. In addition, according to the press release released on the official website of Chint New Energy, as of June 2024, the company has obtained 331 valid patents.

The person in charge of intellectual property rights of JA Solar Technology told the Times reporter that the number of patents of JA Solar ranks among the top among Chinese photovoltaic companies, mainly self-developed patent applications, and a small number of patents purchased from outside.

In fact, the technological change of photovoltaic cells is often followed by a technology patent war. In the era when PERC is the mainstream technology for photovoltaic cells, Hanwha Q CELLS, a Korea company, has filed patent infringement lawsuits against some Chinese PV companies in United States, Australia, and Germany. The battle over the patents for PERC technology lasted four years. Now, patent disputes over TOPCon technology are also rife, but unlike in the past, this time Chinese PV companies have taken the initiative to take up the patent weapon.

On May 7, 2024, PV module leader Trina Solar sued Jiangsu Runyang for patent infringement and successfully filed a case in the United States, involving the N-type TOPCon patent. On June 11 of the same year, Trina Solar's patent dispute with Zhongqing Solar and Zhongqing Guotou was heard, which also involved N-type TOPCon patents. Recently, China Customs has seized a number of containers suspected of patent infringement by Canadian Solar's subsidiaries in accordance with the law. It is Trina Solar that is claiming the rights and is related to the TOPCon technology.

In addition, in the past two years, Maxeon has filed patent infringement lawsuits against a number of photovoltaic companies around TOPCon and BC technologies.

Patent escort

A veteran of the photovoltaic industry, who did not want to be named, told the Times reporter that on the one hand, the TOPCon patent battle reflects the increasing importance of intellectual property rights of China's photovoltaic enterprises. On the other hand, this is also a manifestation of intensified competition in the industry, "in the first half of this year, there was a lot of news about production cuts and losses in the photovoltaic industry, and it was not easy for everyone, and a lot of efforts were made to compete for market share and profits, and the patent weapon was also taken out in order to gain more advantages in market competition." ”

JA Solar told the Times that in the past during the development of the photovoltaic industry, intellectual property rights were not well protected. "With the rise of our Chinese enterprises' ability to innovate and use intellectual property, the awareness of intellectual property protection continues to improve."

Judging from the current trend, intellectual property rights have been duly protected, and the technical threshold of the photovoltaic industry is constantly improving. "In the past few years, there have been very few patent lawsuits in the photovoltaic field, probably because the market demand for this has grown fast enough. Nowadays, the market is gradually maturing and the competition in the industry is intensifying, and the protection of intellectual property rights must play a role. ”

"If intellectual property rights are taken out to claim rights and successfully, then a technical threshold is established. If no one comes up with a patent to litigate, everyone will ignore the patent, then it is an invisible technical threshold. JA Solar believes that as a result of these patent lawsuits, as long as the lawsuit is successful or the defendant pays the patent license fee, it can show that this threshold has been established.

Respecting and protecting intellectual property rights has gradually become a consensus in the photovoltaic industry.

This year's Global Photovoltaic Conference (SNEC) sent a clear signal that the protection of intellectual property rights is critical. Gao Jifan, Chairman of Trina Solar, Zhong Baoshen, Chairman of LONGi Green Energy, Zhu Gongshan, Chairman of GCL Group, and other PV bigwigs said that it is urgent for the entire PV industry to fully respect and protect intellectual property rights.

At the meeting, Gao Jifan strongly appealed: "fully encourage technological innovation, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, and severely crack down on illegal acts that infringe on intellectual property rights."

"If intellectual property rights are not effectively protected, intellectual property infringement is rampant, and cross-border enterprises and executives of original companies go out to start businesses and infringe on the intellectual property rights of other companies at will, which enterprise has the motivation to invest billions or even tens of billions of dollars in technological innovation and research and development? If the infringement of intellectual property rights cannot be severely punished, it will be impossible to embark on the path of 'innovation-oriented' high-quality development. Gao Jifan said.

Zhong Baoshen believes that in the past few years, the core of photovoltaic is still innovation-driven, but the lack of technology and intellectual property protection has led to the rapid diffusion of the entire technology, resulting in everyone taking it. Therefore, in terms of intellectual property rights, it is indeed necessary to increase the protection of intellectual property rights.

Zhu Gongshan said bluntly: "So far, there are few professional academicians and national laboratories in the field of photovoltaics. The investment of national capital in the manufacturing end and the allocation of related resource elements are expected, the industrial resilience and self-discipline need to be improved urgently, and the protection of intellectual property rights is far from enough. He called on the industry to respect the laws of science and technology, not to pull out the seedlings to grow, respect intellectual property rights, build an open and collaborative ecological chain, and work together to break into the no-man's land of science and technology.