Canadian Solar labels Solaria’s new patent lawsuit ‘flawed’

Solar module manufacturer Canadian Solar has released a short statement in response to the new patent lawsuit filed against it by U.S. rival Solaria at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) a week ago.

“The ITC investigation is expected to be instituted next month,” said Canadian Solar, adding: “Asserting the same family of patents against the same limited number of products (HiDM and HiDM5) in a different forum does not make Solaria's claims any less flawed.”

The Chinese-Canadian manufacturer alleged Solaria's latest lawsuit had been initiated in response to Canadian Solar's own counter-suit to the first lawsuit filed by Solaria, in March in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California. Referring to the earlier legal actions, Canadian Solar said none of the products under investigation infringe Solaria patents, and claimed Solaria withheld key evidence from the U.S. Patent Office when seeking its patents.

Solaria's claims concern the process of separating photovoltaic strips from solar cells for use in shingled modules. The U.S. manufacturer said it provided Canadian Solar with information about its shingling process in 2014, ahead of a proposed licensing deal between the two companies, with a non-disclosure agreement signed in June 2015. Canadian Solar, which Solaria said subsequently abandoned the proposed licensing arrangement, is accused of having used Solaria technology in its HiDM shingled modules.