After the Chinese New Year, the PV industry set off an unprecedented storm of patent litigation, involving seven of the top 10 module companies in the industry, with an unprecedented amount of litigation and a global impact.

In today's rapid development of the photovoltaic industry, patents have become the core area of competition among major enterprises. At the beginning of 2025, the patent war in the photovoltaic industry has not subsided, but has intensified globally, with industry giants such as Trina Solar (688599), JinkoSolar (688223), and LONGi Green Energy (601012) involved in this war without gunpowder.

Trina Solar v. Canadian Solar: Record claim

On February 10, 2025, Trina Solar announced that the company filed a lawsuit with the Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court, accusing Canadian Solar (688472) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Changshu Canadian Solar, of infringing two of its core invention patents, claiming up to RMB 1.058 billion, and demanding rights protection costs and litigation costs. This is the largest patent infringement lawsuit in China's PV industry to date.

Image source: Screenshot of the company's announcement

Canadian Solar responded on February 11, 2025, that its products did not infringe the patents in question, and that it had filed a request for invalidation of two patents from Trina Solar, saying that the other party's claim "lacks factual and legal basis".

JinkoSolar's global litigation with LONGi Green Energy

The patent dispute between JinkoSolar and LONGi Green Energy is global. On February 4, 2025, JinkoSolar sued LONGi Green Energy Australia Pty Ltd in the Federal Court of Australia for infringing its invention patent, with the first hearing scheduled for February 21. Previously, JinkoSolar has initiated a number of lawsuits against LONGi Green Energy in China, Japan and other places, involving the design and manufacture of high-efficiency solar cells and modules.

In response, LONGi filed a patent infringement lawsuit against JinkoSolar in the Intermediate People's Court of Jinan Municipality, Shandong Province on February 11, 2025, demanding that JinkoSolar immediately stop manufacturing, selling, and offering to sell the allegedly infringing products. Previously, LONGi Green Energy had filed a countersuit against JinkoSolar in the United States, accusing it of infringing TOPCon technology patents.

The Indian market is also involved

With the passage of time, the patent war in the photovoltaic industry has gradually evolved from the initial local regional competition to a global technology and market game. JinkoSolar's recent move has further expanded the patent battle to the Indian market, marking a new stage in the patent competition in the global PV industry.

On February 7, 2025, JinkoSolar sued Indian PV giant Waaree Energies Limited and its U.S. subsidiary, Waaree Solar Americas Inc., in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, alleging infringement of JinkoSolar's N-type TOPCon technology patent US11,824,136. According to an announcement published on JinkoSolar's official website, the core issue of this lawsuit is the unauthorized use of JinkoSolar's patents on TOPCon technology by Waaree Energies.

The lawsuit marks the expansion of JinkoSolar's patent protection strategy from the traditional markets of China, the United States, Japan and Australia to India, one of the key markets for the global PV industry.

As one of India's leading PV companies, Waaree Energies' global expansion and technological development have also put it in the spotlight of other international PV giants. JinkoSolar's choice to file a lawsuit against Waaree at this juncture, means that JinkoSolar has set its sights on the broader global PV market.

It can be said that JinkoSolar's patent litigation in India is not just a single case against Waaree Energies, but marks a new stage in the global patent war in the photovoltaic industry, with the scope of market and technology competition becoming more and more extensive, and the transnational nature of patent disputes becoming more and more prominent.

Focus of controversy: TOPCon technology patent

At the heart of these lawsuits revolves around TOPCon (Tunneling Oxide Passivation Contact) technology. This technology is widely regarded as an important development direction for the next generation of high-efficiency solar cells, with significant technical advantages. By forming a thin oxide layer on the surface of the silicon wafer, TOPCon technology can effectively passivate surface defects and reduce the recombination loss of electrons, thereby significantly improving the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the cell. Compared to the traditional PERC (Passivated Emitter and Backside Cell) technology, TOPCon is able to further improve the efficiency of solar cells, reaching a conversion efficiency of more than 24%, which makes it one of the most competitive technologies in the current photovoltaic field.

The advantages of TOPCon technology are not only in terms of efficiency, but also in terms of process compatibility. It can be seamlessly integrated into existing PV production lines and can be easily integrated into existing manufacturing processes, which provides strong support for large-scale commercial applications. In addition, the low material cost of TOPCon cells and the ability to reduce energy consumption and material waste in the production process through optimized design make the technology have great potential to drive down the cost of photovoltaic power generation.

The patent war has affected industry leaders in a large area

According to incomplete statistics, seven of the top 10 PV module companies in the world in terms of shipments have been deeply involved in patent litigation. These lawsuits are not only aimed at asserting patent rights to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace or to dominate negotiations, but they may also accelerate the reshuffle of the industry. As the gap in patent technology strength widens, large enterprises with strong R&D capabilities and rich patent reserves are expected to occupy a more favorable market position, while small and medium-sized enterprises may fall into development difficulties due to patent disputes.

For industry giants such as Jinko, LONGi, and Trina, how to find a balance in the escalating patent disputes, break through technological bottlenecks, and promote innovation and cooperation to achieve a win-win situation will be an important challenge in the future.

From the perspective of industry development and standardization, the current patent wars also reveal the key position of intellectual property protection in the photovoltaic industry. With the gradual strengthening of intellectual property protection in China, many forces in the industry, including industry associations and government departments, are actively calling for further strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, aiming to promote the healthy and sustainable development of enterprises.

The patent litigation has had a profound impact on the PV industry. On the one hand, huge claims and frequent lawsuits can lead to an increase in the operating costs of a business, and even affect the market reputation and customer confidence of the enterprise. On the other hand, this also reflects the industry's emphasis on core technologies, which may prompt enterprises to increase R&D investment and promote technological innovation.