Canadian Solar Loses Patent Claim to Solaria, Stops Modules Supply to US in Settlement

Solaria Corporation has declared that it has settled its patent infringement claims against Canadian Solar. Solaria is a U.S.-based global provider of solar energy products and Canadian Solar is a Chinese solar panel manufacturer.

According to the official statement, Solaria has agreed to terminate its litigations against Canadian Solar in exchange for Canadian Solar ceasing its importation of shingled solar modules into the USA for seven years. This took place under the terms of the agreement.

The settlement resolves patent infringement disputes that Solaria brought against Canadian Solar in Federal District Court for the Northern District of California and in the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) related to Solaria’s proprietary shingled solar module technology.

Tony Alvarez, Chief Executive Officer, Solaria, explained that “Solaria initially filed suit against Canadian Solar because they chose to ignore and violate Solaria’s core intellectual property (IP). When rendering his Initial Determination in the ITC investigation, the Chief Administrative Law Judge recognized that Canadian Solar infringed Solaria’s patents.”

In that Initial Determination, which was issued in October 2021, Chief Administrative Law Judge Cheney found that Canadian Solar violated section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, in their importation of shingled solar modules.

Alvarez added, “Solaria remains open to cooperating with companies that recognize the value of Solaria’s IP; we’ve licensed Solaria’s technology to other firms in the industry. However, Solaria will actively defend our IP against any infringers, and protect our technology for ourselves and our valued partners.”

Solaria Corporation claims itself to be one of the leading solar PV technology and systems company in the USA. Solaria delves into distributed, clean power generation by delivering engineering and automation in the industry.

Chinese companies in the renewable sector have frequently found themselves at the wrong end of accusations of intellectual property rights thefts across the globe. However, in recent years especially, they have taken the lead in research and innovation too, especially in the solar sector where the country’s firms dominate overwhelmingly. The largest ones have preferred to collaborate on research with European and other partners and even set up research centres in the west to ensure a seamless transfer of technology to their manufacturing plants in China.

Previously Sinovel Wind Group, a Chinese wind turbine company, was also convicted in serious theft of trade secrets and corporate espionage.