LONGi said that it has come to its attention – through news articles – that Hanwha Q-Cells has filed a Section 337 patent investigation with the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”), and concurrently filed a patent infringement complaint in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, against Jinko Solar, REC and LONGi.
The company said it has not received any legal case documents about the complaints, nor any official business negotiation correspondence from Hanwha Q-CELLS on this matter before this event.
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LONGi in a statement said that it has always attached great importance to technology innovations and respect for intellectual properties. At present, the company owns over 1,000 patents and patent applications, and maintains global leadership in various key photovoltaic technologies. LONGi’s PERC cells have repeatedly earned world records in cell efficiencies.
In preliminary analysis of the media information, the patent family used by Hanwha Q- CELLS in the complaint is acquired through multiple transfers and transactions from other research institutes; and act as a co-owner to the patents. Currently, several opposition procedures against the patents have been filed at least in Europe, and there is considerable uncertainty with regards to the validity of the patent rights. Furthermore, from a technical perspective, the current technology used in LONGi’s products is not the same as the technology contained in the disputed patents: the disputed patents are about ALD technology while LONGi uses PECVD technology said the company.
LONGi believes that the complaint will have no material impact on the production and operations of the Company. The company said it is prepared and ready to actively respond against the complaint.
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