later, photovoltaic enterprises launched a "patent war".
According to foreign media reports, recently, Maxeon Solar ( "Maxeon"), a leading silicon wafer company TCL Zhonghuan Holdings, accused China's Shanghai Aixu and its subsidiaries of infringing its European patents for solar cells in German courts. "Maxeon expects Aiko and Memodo (Aiko's wholesalers) to respect the patent rights and immediately cease unauthorized use of the patented technology," Lindsey Wiedmann
, Maxeon's chief legal and sustainability officer, said in a statement.
On November 16 , the official WeChat of Aixu responded to the incident.
Aixu shares said that Aixu ABC products are fundamentally different from Maxeon's EP2297788 B1 patented technology, which has been verified by Aixu's intellectual property team and European intellectual property law firms. There is no infringement of the patent, and the follow-up will actively respond to the lawsuit in order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests.
Aixu is not only a photovoltaic module giant, but also ABC (All Back Contact Solar Cell). As of October 31, 2023, Aixu has applied for 1882 patents and obtained 1061 authorized patents. Among them, 325 patents were applied for around ABC technology, and 157 patents were granted.
Maxeon, as the overseas backbone of TCL Zhonghuan, has thousands of patents including IBC and shingling , is one of the enterprises with the largest number of shingling technology installations in the industry, and is the world's leading manufacturer of photovoltaic cells and modules.
The report shows that the dispute between the two companies mainly originated from Maxeon's European Patent No. EP2297788 B1, a back-contact solar cell with doped polysilicon regions separated by trench structures and its manufacturing process. The patent relates to a proprietary and basic solar cell architecture for a rear contact or back contact solar cell, also known as an all back contact (ABC) solar cell or an interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell . As soon as
the news came out, some people questioned Maxeon 's behavior of touching porcelain. After all, Maxeon chose IBC in BC technology, while Aixu chose ABC. There is a big difference between the two technical routes.
However, some media said that both IBC and ABC are full back contact batteries, mainly because of the difference in name.
Provocation? Or rights protection? On June 15,
2023, TCL Central announced that it had received a notice from Maxeon. Tongwei Solar (Hefei) Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary Tongwei Solar GmbH filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the two companies in Dusseldorf District Court, Germany, for using Maxeon for No. Maxeon in Europe without permission.
In response to the statement, Tongwei shares said that the current information can not show that the company's related products infringe the European patent of Maxeon, the company has hired local lawyers in Germany to actively respond to the lawsuit and claim their legitimate rights and interests according to law.
As of the date of publication, TCL Zhonghuan Maxeon and Tongwei Co., Ltd. have not disclosed any further progress in this "infringement" case.
Further back, in 2020, Maxeon and Atlas also had disputes over the technology of shingled components, and finally Atlas temporarily withdrew from the Japanese shingled market until the second quarter of 2025. The two sides reached a settlement.
In recent years,
patent disputes among photovoltaic enterprises have spread all over the world. According to Digital New Energy DataBM, Chinese photovoltaic enterprises have become the main target.
Taking Longji Green Energy as an example, in 2018, Longji's overseas module sales reached 1.9 GW, up 370% year-on-year, and its overseas business revenue accounted for 32.7%, up 7% year-on-year. By March 2019, the monthly module export scale exceeded 6GW.
It can be seen that Chinese photovoltaic enterprises occupied the market overseas at that time. However, this move is bound to threaten the original overseas photovoltaic manufacturers, many companies have tried to obstruct the pace of expansion of Chinese photovoltaic enterprises in overseas markets on the grounds of patent infringement.
The most famous patent dispute between Longji and Hanhua lasted for 4 years, involving the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and other places. Finally, the two sides reached a patent cross-licensing agreement, and both sides have the right to legally use the relevant patented technology worldwide.
In fact, since 2019, Hanwha has been challenging Chinese photovoltaic enterprises. In 2022, Hanwha sued Trina Solar for patent infringement of certain products in Germany and applied to the court for a temporary injunction against Trina Solar in Germany. The ban did not have a significant impact on Trina Solar at that time, but it still had an impact on Trina Solar's European sales of about 400-500 MW.
Looking back on the dispute between Maxeon and Aixu shares, it also happened when Aixu entered the European market. In August
2023, Aixu signed a 650MW supply agreement with LIBRA, the largest distributor in the Netherlands ; In September, Aixu Co., Ltd. signed a 520 MW supply agreement with VDH SOLAR, the general supplier of photovoltaic products in the Netherlands , and also reached a supply agreement with Gutami, a Belgian photovoltaic distributor.
To sum up, the patent war is actually a means of competing for the market. The dispute between Maxeon and Aixu is not the first patent dispute, nor will it be the last. Frequent patent disputes also remind Chinese photovoltaic enterprises that while paying attention to protecting their patent rights, they should also adapt to such a new "normal" as soon as possible and do a good job of coping with it.
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