this reporter zhang yingying and wu kezhong report from beijing

The patent storm between the PV giants has revived.

recently, Jiangsu local media released a report entitled "cracking down on patent infringement and escorting" new three "enterprises should be encouraged to defend intellectual property rights in accordance with the law," saying that China Customs has successively seized containers suspected of patent infringement in accordance with the law. Artes (688472.SH)'s Changshu Artes Sunshine Power Technology Co., Ltd. and Wuxi Yuncheng Power Technology Co., Ltd. are involved. According to the outside world, the photovoltaic enterprise claiming the right is Trina Solar (688599.SH) and is related to TOPCon technology.

On June 27, Trina Solar told a reporter from China Business News: "The above incidents do exist and are the measures taken by our company to safeguard its own intellectual property rights and the common interests of the industry." Artes did not disclose the progress of more events to reporters, but it said in an interview with the media, "Customs cannot determine whether the detained goods infringe the intellectual property rights of the intellectual property rights holder. Our legal affairs are actively dealing with it".

The patent turmoil among the above-mentioned photovoltaic companies is, to a certain extent, the result of the mismatch between market supply and demand and the escalation of trade barriers leading to intensified competition. The mainstream technology TOPCon is the focus of controversy.

Jingao technology (002459.SZ) photovoltaic industry intellectual property operation center executive deputy director Chen Wei in the recently held photovoltaic industry chain digital intelligence and intellectual property development seminar, said: "before the photovoltaic industry cake is big enough, we do not have too much thought to manage intellectual property rights, but now is different. rely on what to get out of the inner volume dilemma? Need to rely on photovoltaic people themselves and intellectual property rights."

Qi Yong, dean, professor, and doctoral supervisor of the Jiangsu Institute of International Intellectual Property of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, also believes that the protection of intellectual property rights is very important. In his view, the seemingly simple intellectual property dispute actually has a complex background behind every case. The essence of intellectual property dispute is the market dispute.

Patent Disputes

As a party claiming rights, Trina Solar's "firing" on its peers is undoubtedly a manifestation of the upgrading of industry competition.

Artes and Trina Solar are both global photovoltaic module giants and the first companies to rise in China's photovoltaic industry. According to the 2023 global PV module shipment list released by Infolink Consulting, the top four manufacturers in the first echelon are Jingke Energy (688223.SH), Longji Green Energy (601012.SH), Trina Solar Energy and Jingao Technology. Followed by the second tier of companies are Tongwei shares (600438.SH) and Ates.

The 2023 financial report shows that Trina Solar and Artes's global PV module shipments are 65.21GW and 30.72GW respectively, with a certain gap. From the point of view of the export market alone, the European and American markets are the battleground for photovoltaic leaders, including Trina Solar and Artes. Among them, Europe is the largest overseas market for Trina Solar, followed by the United States. The top two overseas markets for ATS shipments are the United States and Europe, and its shipments to the European and American markets increased by 24% and 28% year-on-year, respectively.

In 2024, the mainstream technology in the photovoltaic market will change and move towards the era of N-type TOPCon. According to Jibang Consulting data, by the end of 2023, the capacity of TOPCon technology battery chips will reach 570GW, accounting for 84% of the total N-type capacity, occupying an absolute advantage.

Trina Solar and Artes are both fans of the TOPCon technology route, but they also face considerable competitive pressure. A person in the photovoltaic industry commented: "in the current oversupply photovoltaic market, prices continue to plummet, the overall profits of the industry are thin or even at a loss, and it is inevitable that domestic enterprises will 'brush their guns and go off '."

people close to Trina Solar also confirmed to reporters that up to now, Trina Solar and Artes have not yet entered the stage of patent litigation. In the future, how to resolve the patent disputes between the two photovoltaic giants remains to be further observed.

It is worth mentioning that with the major changes in photovoltaic cell technology, technology patent wars will accompany. Prior to this, the patent dispute between Hanwha Q-Cells and Jinko Energy and Longi Green Energy continued for many years around PERC technology. Today, patent disputes over TOPCon and BC technology are also rife.

In addition to the aforementioned actions of Trina Solar, it is reported that Trina Solar has also sued companies related to Zhongqing Photovoltaic and Runyang for patent infringement around TOPCon technology. Trina Solar responded to reporters by saying: "The incidents are all in progress, and the details are temporarily inconvenient to disclose."

In addition, Maxeon, a subsidiary of TCL Central, has launched patent lawsuits against domestic and foreign companies such as CSIQ and Aixu (600732.SH), the controlling shareholder of Artes, in the past two years around TOPCon and BC technology, which has not yet ended.

The reporter also noted that the recent photovoltaic patent rights protection action around the anti-fouling design function has also attracted attention.

on June 21, daheng energy issued a statement through wechat public number, saying that the full-screen photovoltaic module is the first of daheng energy. it has been put into research and development since 2019 and will be officially mass produced in 2021 after two years. it has obtained many domestic and international patent certifications such as invention and utility model, covering many aspects such as design, material application and manufacturing process. The front of the full screen assembly has no border, no water accumulation, no dust accumulation, effectively reducing the power generation loss caused by dust accumulation, and improving the power generation income.

Daheng Energy did not specify the specific infringement point in the above statement. Daheng Energy told reporters: "This statement expresses a firm attitude towards the protection of the company's innovation achievements and is also a call for industry norms. In the face of imitation products on the market, we are more inclined to deal with disputes through dialogue and exchange, win-win cooperation and other ways, rather than directly resort to legal means. We also believe that most enterprises respect intellectual property rights and are willing to jointly protect the achievements of scientific and technological transformation and find solutions with us."

The voice for intellectual property protection is growing.

In the past few years, due to the weak awareness of intellectual property rights, some companies have quickly built up production capacity with the help of capital, which has intensified market competition.

In Chen Wei's view, the photovoltaic industry has always had an invisible threshold. "In the past, the cake of photovoltaic industry was big enough, and people didn't pay much attention to the management of intellectual property rights, but now it is different. What can we rely on to get out of the inner dilemma? We need to rely on photovoltaic people themselves and intellectual property rights."

Shi Yonghong, vice chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, also stated that the past development model of the photovoltaic industry has been unsustainable. In the past, everyone pursued technological innovation, but the respect for technological innovation and the protection of intellectual property rights were not in place. Capital can enter this industry, but the result is that production capacity continues to expand. After several years of rapid development, there will soon be an imbalance between supply and demand.

Not only that, respecting and protecting intellectual property rights is an inevitable choice for photovoltaic companies to further participate in global competition.

"The more fragrant, the more pretenders." In Qi Yong's view, in the process of internationalization of my country's photovoltaic industry, its core technology security and intellectual property protection system construction are facing greater pressure and challenges.

At present, China's photovoltaic industry-related patent applications and patent effective quantity both ranked first in the world. However, it still faces problems such as low patent quality and insufficient overseas patent layout.

Chen Wei said that if the photovoltaic industry wants to develop with high quality, it cannot do without high-quality patent creation. First, we must improve the quality of intellectual property rights; second, we must realize the value of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights should be transformed from a window-decorating certificate to a legal weapon to protect innovative achievements. Patents are not only a signboard used to publicize the innovation ability of enterprises to the market, but also a tool used to occupy the market.

Ma Youping, director of the Intellectual Property Professional Committee of the China Productivity Promotion Center, said: "While laying out the number of patent applications, we must pay attention to the ideas and regions of patent layout, so that the scope of protection can effectively establish barriers to competition, and patents will be distributed wherever they go."

Under the reflection of the whole photovoltaic industry, the voice of respecting and protecting intellectual property rights is getting higher and higher.

recently, during the 17th (2024) international solar photovoltaic and smart energy (Shanghai) exhibition of SNEC PV +, Gao Jifan, chairman and CEO of Trina Solar, said that he would take innovation as the guide, protect innovation achievements, build a cooperative pattern under the background of intellectual property rights, and gradually break the state of fighting for each other and over-investment. In his view, if intellectual property rights are not effectively protected and violations of intellectual property rights are popular and cannot be severely punished, it will be impossible to embark on a "innovation-oriented" high-quality development path.

Zhong Baoshen, chairman of Longji Green Energy, also said: "In the past few years, we have been lacking in intellectual property protection, and everyone has been 'borrowlism, 'which has led to the spread of technology too fast. The photovoltaic industry should increase protection to promote the sound development of the industry."