French PV manufacturer Carbon has provided an update on the patent case involving JA Solar’s TOPCon patents EP 2 787 541 B1.
The company explained that it leads a consortium including other unspecified European members that have filed a patent opposition questioning the validity of JA Solar’s patent with the European Patent Office (EPO).
“The lawsuit filed by JAsolar against Astronergy/Chint in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is completely separate from the patent opposition at the EPO, in which Carbon is involved,” said Étienne Roche, responsible for strategy, communications, public relations and public affairs at Carbon. , told pv magazine.
“There is no connection between Carbon and the legal proceedings between JAsolar and Astronergy/Chint, and there is no ongoing lawsuit by JA Solar against Carbon and the consortium of European partners.”
Roche said Carbon began conducting a thorough Freedom To Operate (FTO) on TOPCon technology in 2022, when it started operating.
“At that time, Carbon identified a single patent on TOPCon, which was very broad, originally from LG, Korea and owned by Jinkosolar. A few months ago, JA Solar purchased Jinkosolar’s patent portfolio,” he added. “TOPCon is a technology invented and developed in the European laboratories and we must remember that it is very broad, shared and offers several possible technological paths.”
“When Carbon chose TOPCon as the key technology path for its industrial PV project in 2022, the company was quite visionary, as TOPCon was not yet the mainstream technology it would then become,” said Roche. “The broad patent we identified in 2022 was recently granted by the EPO and we were still in the nine-month period where it is possible to easily file opposition.”
Roche added that the opposition to JA Solar’s patent was filed in May 2023, but noted that this action is not a lawsuit or legal process.
“In October 2024, the Opposition Division’s response was that the patent was ‘upheld’, but it is only a preliminary decision,” he added. “Our consortium is now exploring the possibility of an appeal, involving even more European players.”
Carbon said it will refine its technology strategy following the outcome of the patent opposition.
“Overall, Carbon will not relax its vigilance on these IP issues, because what is at stake for Europe is our strategic autonomy, technological independence and industrial sovereignty,” Roche emphasizes. “As European players, we should not give up defending the technologies created by Europeans in Europe. It is also a way to support the renaissance of the European PV industry.”
In our previous report, Astronergy had named Carbon for the first time as a company involved in the patent opposition case and also specified that the case was not related to another TOPCon dispute it has with JA Solar.
“Astronergy is involved because JA Solar made Astronergy a related party in the Carbon Opposition Case in August this year,” a company spokesperson told pv magazine yesterday. “The EPO’s information on the outcome of the oral proceedings is a preliminary opinion, not a conclusion.”
When JA Solar said Astronergy was involved in the opposition case, it initially left out that Carbon was part of the proceedings, but then confirmed to pv magazine that the company was involved.