Short Summary
Canadian Solar seeks to invalidate 11 claims of Trina Solar's 9,722,104 patent, arguing they are obvious over prior art such as Jin, Feldmann, Chang, Seo, and Watabe. The petition requests institution and notes discretionary denial is inapplicable.
Detailed Summary
In Petition IPR2025-00918, Canadian Solar (USA) Inc. challenges all 11 claims of Trina Solar's U.S. Patent No. 9,722,104, which covers a TOPCon solar cell with an isolation portion. The petitioner contends that each claim is obvious in view of combinations of earlier publications—Jin, Feldmann, Chang, Seo, and Watabe—demonstrating motivation, reasonable expectation of success, and full disclosure of claim limitations. The petition also argues that discretionary denial under §314(a) does not apply and that institution is warranted, especially given a prior IPR on identical grounds that was already instituted. No claim construction is required, and the petition includes expert testimony from Dr. Sanjay Banerjee.
Practitioner Note
This case demonstrates the evidentiary and procedural standards applied in patent matters before local courts. Understanding the court's reasoning in Canadian Solar (USA) Inc. et al. vs Trina Solar Co. Ltd. is valuable context for structuring arguments or assessing risk in similar proceedings.
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