It has come to the attention of LONGi – through news articles – that Hanwha Q-Cells has filed a Section 337 patent investigation with the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”); and concurrently filed a patent infringement complaint in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, against Jinko Solar, REC and LONGi.
At this time, LONGi has not received any legal case documents about the complaints, nor any official business negotiation correspondence from Hanwha Q-CELLS on this matter before this event.
LONGi has always attached great importance to technology innovations and respect for intellectual properties At present, the company owns over 1,000 patents and patent applications, and maintains global leadership in various key photovoltaic technologies. LONGi’s PERC cells have repeatedly earned world records in cell efficiencies.
In preliminary analysis of the media information, the patent family used by Hanwha Q- CELLS’ in the complaint is acquired through multiple transfers and transactions from other research institutes; and act as a co-owner to the patents. Currently, several opposition procedures against the patents have been filed at least in Europe, and there is considerable uncertainty with regards to the validity of the patent rights. Furthermore, from a technical perspective, the current technology used in LONGi’s products is not the same as the technology contained in the disputed patents: the disputed patents are about ALD technology while LONGi uses PECVD technology.
On further analysis of the media information, LONGi believes that the complaint will have no material impact on the production and operations of the Company. However, LONGi is prepared and ready to actively respond against the complaint. Concurrently, the Company will keep our valued interested parties such as our investors, strategic partners and customers updated and informed of the progress of this matter.
March 6,2019
