Germany Rules in Favor of Hanwha Q Cells in the Patent Lawsuit Against JinkoSolar, LONGi and REC

Hanwha Q Cells emerged victorious in the ruling of the Düsseldorf Regional Court, which confirmed that the company’s Chinese competitors JinkoSolar, LONGi and REC have adopted the patented solar cell passivation technology illegally. According to pv magazine, the judges granted the Korean manufacturer an injunction. Therefore the three defendants will have to recall all the patent-infringing products distributed in Germany since late January 2019.

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The Düsseldorf Regional Court issued a ruling that JinkoSolar, LONGi and REC have infringed Hanwha Q Cells’ “689 patent” regarding solar cell technology.

689 patent is the German part of European patent EP 2 220 689, which was awarded to Hanwha Q Cells for its PV cell efficiency-boosting technology in 2014 and will be valid until 2028, as pv magazine reported.

As stated in the ruling, the Chinese competitors have used the patented technology without a signed licensing agreement with the Korean PV conglomerate.

The injunction granted by the German court will require JinkoSolar, LONGi and REC to recall all the products that were produced with the patent-infringed technology and sold in Germany after January 2019.

Hanwha Q Cells has the right to demand the defendants to destroy the said products.

Hanwha Q Cells has shared its delight with pv magazine that “that the Düsseldorf Regional Court confirmed what we knew from the beginning,” said Daniel Jeong, Chief Technology Officer of Hanwha Q Cells GmbH. “We firmly believe that our approach serves to protect our property rights and, at the same time, to strengthen the confidence of the industry that time-consuming and capital-intensive R&D efforts are protected.” He added: “Furthermore, we cannot ignore the possibility that the accused companies may have applied the 689 patent to their other products. Q Cells will continue to take all necessary measures, should our rights be violated by another party in other regions – including direct legal recourse and industry dialogue.”

Concerning the unfavorable final determination issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the CTO warned the defendant that the Korean PV tech giant will not rest its case: “With regard to the recent U.S. ITC decision on [the] patent infringement lawsuit, we will appeal against it.”