Defendant

Trina Solar Co. Ltd.

3 cases as defendant.

Cases
3
Active
0
3 closed
Filed
2024–2025
Top venue
PTAB
3 cases

Company profile

Trina Solar Co. Ltd., commonly known as Trinasolar, is a Chinese photovoltaics company founded in 1997. Headquartered in Changzhou, China, Trina Solar became a public company listed on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June 2020, following a 2017 delisting from the NYSE. The company employs nearly 50,000 people worldwide and reported a trailing 12-month revenue of $9.8 billion as of March 31, 2026.

Trina Solar operates across four main business areas: PV products, energy storage, system solutions, and digital energy services. They are involved in the research, development, production, and sales of PV modules, and offer a range of energy storage solutions for various applications, including utility-scale power plants, commercial, industrial, and residential use. Their system solutions include trackers, distributed generation systems, and centralized power plants. Additionally, Trina Solar provides digital energy services such as new energy operation and maintenance, microgrids, solar-storage-charging integration, and electricity trading. The company is vertically integrated, manufacturing crystalline ingots, wafers, cells, and modules.

Trina Solar is an active litigant in patent disputes, with an even split of three cases as plaintiff and three as defendant in our database. The majority of their tracked cases are in U.S. District Courts for the District of Delaware and the Central District of California, as well as before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Many of these cases involve disputes over Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) solar cell technology.

A notable series of cases involves Trina Solar as plaintiff against Runergy USA Inc., Runergy Alabama Inc., and Jiangsu Runergy New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., as well as Canadian Solar (USA) Inc. and its related entities. Trina Solar has asserted U.S. Patent Numbers 9,722,104 and 10,230,009 in these lawsuits, alleging infringement related to TOPCon solar cells and modules. However, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently issued final written decisions invalidating all claims of both these patents, which were previously asserted by Trina Solar against Canadian Solar and Runergy. This ruling effectively dismantles the basis for Trina Solar's infringement lawsuit against Canadian Solar in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware and has a significant impact on ongoing litigation against Runergy. Runergy had petitioned for inter partes review of these patents, claiming they were unpatentable and had been acquired by Trina Solar in February 2024, not developed internally.

Runergy USA Inc. v. Trina Solar Co. Ltd.

judgment
Docket:
IPR2025-00006
Court:
PTAB
Filed:
2024-10-03
Terminated:
2026-04-15
Patents:10230009

An Inter Partes Review initiated by Runergy USA Inc. challenging US Patent 10230009, resulting in claims 1-17 being found unpatentable.

Unified Patents v. Trina Solar Co. Ltd.

judgment
Docket:
IPR2025-00187
Court:
PTAB
Patents:10230009

An Inter Partes Review initiated by Unified Patents challenging US Patent 10230009, which concluded with a Final Written Decision.