Vapor
In mid-November, South Korea-based solar manufacturer Hanwha Q-Cells had announced that the Chinese Patent Office's examination and invalidity department (CNIPA) had rejected nullity proceedings against two of its patents, related to high-efficiency silicon solar cells, filed by Chinese PV panel maker Longi. At the time, the Korean company claimed victory in the proceedings and said it was seeing a good chance of being successful in proceedings before the European Patent Office.
In
a statement issued recently, Longi has taken a stand against Hanwha Q
Cells' claims. It explained that it filed its request to examine the
validity of the Korean manufacturer's two patents at the CNIPA between
July and August and that in November the CNIPA declared the two patents
partially invalid. According to the Chinese manufacturer, however, the
invalidation procedure in the CNIPA is an administrative examination
procedure that only examines whether or not the authorized Chinese
patent complies with patent law requirements. “Such a procedure is not a
lawsuit and does not incorporate any judgment or decision on whether a
patent has been infringed,” Longi stated. “In addition, the preliminary
opinion of the European Patent Office, published on October 21, 2020,
stated that claims on the patent in dispute do not fulfill several legal
validity requirements.”
Longi did not explain the consequences
of this preliminary decision and emphasized that there was no patent
infringement litigation or lawsuit for patent infringement between Longi
and Hanwha Q-Cells in China, adding that the technologies applied in
its existing and future products are quite different to those of the
patent in dispute. “However, Longi will continue to file an invalidation
procedure against the remaining claims on the above patents, in order
to prevent the potential initiation of unnecessary patent infringement
lawsuits by Hanwha Q-Cells,” the Chinese company stated.
Hanwha
Q-Cells sued Longi as well as Jinkosolar and REC last year in Germany,
the USA and Australia for possible infringement of its patents. This was
rejected in the USA. In the first instance, however, the judges at the
Düsseldorf Regional Court decided in favor of Hanwha Q-Cells. However,
appeal procedures are now ongoing. The South Korean module manufacturer,
with German roots, recently announced that it wanted to expand the
patent lawsuits against its competitors to other countries – including
France and Spain.
Source:www.pv-magazine.com
Author:Sandra Enkhardt
Editor:Vapor