JinkoSolar Accuses Compatriot LONGi Of TOPCon Patent Infringement

The fight over patent ownership for TOPCon solar technology seems nowhere near an end as the battlefield has now expanded with 2 Chinese solar PV giants now embroiled in one. JinkoSolar has now sued LONGi Green Energy Technology accusing it of infringing on its TOPCon solar technology patents. 

The 2 companies haven’t released any official statements on the matter; however, local Chinese media reports claim JinkoSolar filed the lawsuit at Nancheng Intermediate People’s Court in Jianxi province through one of its subsidiaries. It demands LONGi to stop infringing on its patent and also compensate the company for the economic losses.

While JinkoSolar is laser-focused on TOPCon technology for now, LONGi on the other hand is honing its skills in back contact (BC) having developed its proprietary Hybrid Passivated Back Contact (HPBC) as a cell technology for higher efficiency.

The court has scheduled February 13, 2025 as the date of hearing in the case. 

For JinkoSolar, this follows its December 2024 patent infringement lawsuits against VSUN Solar USA and TOYO Solar in the US, apparently regarding TOPCon technology (see JinkoSolar Files Patent Infringements Case Against VSUN & TOYO).   

According to the latest patent leaderboard by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) released in 2024, JinkoSolar was the highest patent holder in the solar category with 4,100 patents registered and 2,280 granted. It was also the largest holder of TOPCon patents with a majority of its 460 TOPCon patents having been commercialized in its flagship Tiger Neo panels.  

JinkoSolar was the only solar company in the top 50 list, ranked 37, while LONGi was at 309.

Meanwhile, TOPCon patent disputes continue unabated in China and elsewhere. The US International Trade Commission (USTR) is already investigating Trinasolar’s complaint against Canadian Solar, Runergy and Adani as more and more companies invest heavily into this next-generation PV technology that’s set to rule the world for a few years to come.  

Discussing the subject of intellectual property (IP) at the recent TaiyangNews High Efficiency Solar Technologies 2024 conference spread across December 2 and 3, and December 10 and 11, panelists on day 4 of the event stressed that such issues are needlessly slowing down the sector. Instead, they recommend more collaboration and technology licensing to help the industry move forward (see Day 4: TaiyangNews High Efficiency Solar Technologies 2024 Conference).  

Nevertheless, patent lawsuits can be lengthy and expensive to fight. As history has shown, most such cases get resolved out of the court, mutually. For instance, Tongwei and Maxeon recently resolved their shingled solar technology related patent dispute outside court (see Tongwei & Maxeon Reach Agreement In Solar Patent Dispute).