Maxeon Sues Tongwei over Shingled Cell Tech in Germany

Maxeon Solar Technologies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Chinese PV manufacturer Tongwei Solar in Germany.

The suit concerns Maxeon’s shingled solar cell panel technology – European patent no.  EP3522045 B1 – which it claims Tongwei has infringed on in the German market. The case was filed to the district court in Dusseldorf this week by Maxeon’s subsidiary Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.

Maxeon deploys the shingled cell technology in its Performance line modules, where cells are separated into smaller strips and overlapped across the module. The company claims that it results in higher power, higher efficiency, enhanced reliability and improved durability compared with standard cell layout.

The process was designed by the Silicon Valley startup Cogenra Solar which was acquired by Maxeon’s former corporate partner SunPower in 2015. Maxeon retained the intellectual property following its spinoff from SunPower.

“Respect of intellectual property rights is critical to incentivise and protect inventions, and we are proud of our 35+ year legacy of innovation that we vigorously defend from infringement,” commented Lindsey Wiedmann, Maxeon’s chief legal & sustainability officer. “We have taken this action against Tongwei Solar both to protect our intellectual property rights and to encourage an orderly and healthy growth of the solar industry, as well as to give the market confidence that research and development initiatives to develop future technologies are valuable investments that can safely continue.”

Bill Mulligan, Maxeon’s CEO added: “In September 2020, Maxeon filed a lawsuit against Canadian Solar in Japan, which was subsequently settled in April 2022. With this latest filing against Tongwei Solar, Maxeon is continuing to vigorously enforce its valuable intellectual property rights to prohibit unauthorised use.”

Tongwei has been producing shingled cell modules for over a year.