The German PV materials manufacturer, which develops and supplies PV metallization pastes, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit at the Intellectual Property Court in Taipei against Taiwan-based Giga Solar, also a PV materials manufacturer, for selling its front-side silver pastes to cell manufacturers in Taiwan.
Specifically, Heraeus says Giga Solar has infringed patent TWI432539 by selling the front-side silver pastes, including the 590, 600 and 620 series.
In a statement released, Heraeus commented, "Our in-depth paste manufacturing knowledge and expertise are protected with strong patents to ensure that our customers can rely on Heraeus as a long-term industry leading supplier for advanced metallization solutions."
Giga Solar has yet to comment on the lawsuit.
In a similar lawsuit, filed in July 2012, DuPont claimed Heraeus and SolarWorld had infringed on its U.S. Patent No. 8,158,504 B2, relating to silver pastes used in the production of solar cells. Heraeus responded by filing several counterclaims.
The case was finally wrapped up in October 2013, when the parties involved settled the pending lawsuits. Neither DuPont nor Heraeus made any admission of liability with respect to the various lawsuits, although Heraeus remained licensed under the patents at issue in the suits. Other terms of the settlement between the companies remained confidential.
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