Adani accused of solar cell patent infringement by US-based First Solar
In a Delaware court, the first Solar claimed that the Indian company had violated two patented technology for solar panel production and demanded compensation for damages it has not yet mentioned. MSPVL rejected charges. Mint The court saw the applications.
The first Solar has already sued a Chinese solar manufacturer in the same accusation and sent warning letters to others due to the alleged patent violation. If the import of solar panels to the USA is restricted, the company in the NASDAQ list will benefit.
The dispute comes at a time when Indian companies won from the US’s 50% tariff on Chinese solar cells and polysilicon. Applying harsh tariffs to a series of Indian property, the US kept the solar cells out of these tariffs.
The queries sent to the Adani group and the first solar energy remained unanswered on Monday.
Case
First Solar on the Nasdaq list wrote to the Adani group on April 1 and accused of copying two technologies. MSPVL rapidly carried a Delaware court on April 15, where the first Solar sued for a Chinese company similar to a Chinese company, and the judge called on to declare that the first sun did not violate the patents of the sun. The company claimed that the production process was different from the patented technology of First Solar and stressed a few differences between two processes, including the heat process.
Following this, the US company dated 1 August claimed that he was looking for damages that have not yet been calculated against the adani group in the same court.
Both companies demanded a jury hearing.
In accordance with the US patent law, if an organization does not fully follow every step of a patented process, Swapna Sundar said, Ip Dome. However, if the changes perform the same function in the same way and obtained the same result as the original process, he warned that the violation could be under the equivalent doctrine.
Adani group has a strong technical situation, the first Solar’s patented process of the heat processing of the skipping of a different product, he said. “Adani’s temperature change (higher temperature range) may be sufficient to avoid equivalence,” he said. “However, the first solar energy is still close enough to be counted as violations.”
Technology
At the center of the subject, Topcon is a technology to make more efficient solar cells. Between 2015 and 2017, Tetrasun, a company purchased by First Solar in 2013, gave Inc. two patents for Topcon Manufacturing.
Using a different fine film technology for its own panels, First Solar began to explore potential patent violations by competitors using Topcon in June 2024. Last year, the company sent warning letters to various competitors, including Jinkosos, League Solar, Trina Solar, Ja Solar and Canada Solar. In February, he filed a lawsuit against Jinkosos at a Delaware court.
However, Adani claims that the patent of First Solar was limited to a different solar cell technology, HJT cells and covered Topcon. MSPVL also claims that it does not use a heat -processing process at the center of First Solar’s technology.
Consequences
Adani’s 4 GW solar production capacity annually is the MSPVL half of the Mundra Solar Energy Ltd (Msel), whose rest is not part of the case. MSPVL doubled income in 25 financial years La6,353 crore jumped more than five times the snow La1085 Crore. According to Indian ratings, more than half of MSPVL’s business comes from the USA.
“Export sales provide higher margins due to solid demand from the United States, which is in charge of imports from China. As a result, India has become the key exporter of solar modules,” He said.
MSPVL belongs to Adani Green Technology Ltd, which belongs to the majority of Adani Tradecom Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of Adani Enterprises LTD.
Msel, another unit of Adani Enterprises, makes a 2 GW monopassic emitter and rear contact (Mono-Perc) technology per year. This technology is not accused of any violation.
Both companies are part of the Adani New Industries LTD, which includes solar cell production and other green energy enterprises, including the group’s green hydrogen, wind turbines and electrolysis.
Adani said that the group wants to upgrade the capacity of the solar cell to 10 GW a year.
The first solar energy following the January-December fiscal year ended in 2024 with an income of 4.21 billion dollars and a profit of $ 1.29 billion. Stocks were traded in Nasdaq with a decrease of approximately 1% since the beginning of the year.
In November 2024, the US Department of Securities and Stock Exchange and the Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit against the billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar, who was alleged to have paid more than $ 250 million bribes to obtain profitable solar contracts between 2020 and 2024. When the SEC’s case did not break the US Securities Law when Adani Green collects money from US investors, because an investigation of the Ministry of Justice did not explain the investigation to the allegations of bribery paid by the company’s executives between 2020-2024.
Ahmedabad -based Holding, who counts 10 companies listed, rejected his allegations that described the accusations against DEJ and SEC as “unquestionable”.
