Maxeon Solar sues Canadian Solar for alleged patent infringement on shingled technology in Japan

Singapore-headquartered solar manufacturer Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd, a spinoff of U.S. panel maker SunPower, says it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Canadian Solar Japan K.K., the Japanese unit of Chinese-Canadian PV product provider Canadian Solar at the Tokyo District Court.

Maxeon accuses Canadian Solar of having violated its Japan patent No. JP6642841B2 for shingled solar modules. “The intellectual property behind our shingled solar cell technology was developed by our talented design and engineering teams and is the result of substantial investment,” said Maxeon CEO, Jeff Waters. “The resultant Performance technology outperforms conventional panels in efficiency, power, reliability and aesthetics.”

Waters added that with this legal action, Maxeon wants to safeguard its valuable assets and prevent unauthorized use of its intellectual property.

Canadian Solar is currently facing similar patent claims in the United States. Local PV manufacturer Solaria recently lodged three different patent infringement claims against the company, which also concerns the process of separating photovoltaic strips from solar cells for use in shingled modules.

Last week, the Chinese-Canadian module maker responded to the latest and third of these claims by labelling it as “flawed.” The manufacturer stated that Solaria’s most recent lawsuit had been initiated in response to its own counter-suit to the first lawsuit filed by Solaria in March at the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California. Referring to these legal actions, Canadian Solar said none of the products under investigation infringe Solaria patents.

*Article was updated to reflect that Maxeon Solar is headquartered in Singapore and not in China, as we previously reported.