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Canadian Solar was represented by a team at Sidley Austin: Brooke Shanelle Boll, Leif E. Peterson, Michael J Bettinger, and Samuel N. Tiu, as well as Gillam & Smith’s Melissa Richards Smith.
Maxeon was represented by Vinson & Elkins’s Eric Joseph Klein, Corbin J Cessna, Hilary L Preston, Jeffrey R. Swigart, Paige Holland Wright, Robert M. Levy, as well as PV Law’s Bradford A Cangro, Jacob Andrew Snodgrass, Jeremy D Peterson, and a team at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox.
Maxeon v. Aiko
Maxeon is also pursuing patent litigation that does not involve TOPCon technologies. In November 2023, it sued China-based Aiko Solar in the Mannheim Regional Court over the infringement of EP2297788 (“Back-contacted solar cells with doped polysilicon regions separated via trench structures and fabrication process therefor”). It also sued the company in the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC’s) Düsseldorf Local Division (LD) over EP3065184 (“Trench process and structure for backside contact solar cells with polysilicon doped regions”), seeking a preliminary injunction, in June 2024 (UPC_CFI_336/2024).
Aiko filed a counterclaim in the UPC’s Düsseldorf LD in October 2024 (UPC_CFI_607/2024). Both the infringement action and the counterclaim for revocation action were heard in December.
That same month, Maxeon filed a third complaint against Aiko in the Landgericht München I (Munich I Regional Court), alleging that the company and its European distribution network infringed EP2297789 (“Trench process and structure for backside contact solar cells with polysilicon doped regions”) through Aiko’s second-generation and third-generation BC solar module products (December 16, 2025 ip fray article).