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Analysis of U.S. Patent No. 12,015,375

Washington, D.C. – May 13, 2026 – An analysis of United States Patent No. 12,015,375, titled "Lead assembly for connecting solar panel arrays to inverter," reveals key details about its term, related applications, and legal status. The patent, issued to inventor Dean Solon and assigned to Shoals Technologies Group, LLC, was granted on June 18, 2024.

Patent Term and Expiration:

The patent's term has been subject to zero days of Patent Term Adjustment (PTA). This indicates that there were no notable delays by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the prosecution of the application that would warrant an extension of the patent's term.

The projected expiration date for U.S. Patent No. 12,015,375 is September 9, 2035. This is calculated 20 years from the filing date of the earliest non-provisional application in its family, which is U.S. Application No. 14/849,458, filed on September 9, 2015.

Continuity and Family Members:

U.S. Patent No. 12,015,375 is part of a larger family of patents and applications, stemming from a provisional application filed in 2014. The direct lineage is as follows:

• Provisional Application: No. 62/047,773, filed on September 9, 2014.
• Non-Provisional Application: No. 14/849,458, filed on September 9, 2015, which issued as U.S. Patent No. 10,992,254.
• Continuation Application: No. 17/301,609, filed on April 8, 2021, which issued as U.S. Patent No. 11,689,153.
• Continuation Application: No. 18/341,655, filed on June 26, 2023, which issued as the patent in question, U.S. Patent No. 12,015,375.

Additionally, this patent is related to other members of the same patent family, including U.S. Patent No. 12,015,376. No divisional applications for U.S. Patent No. 12,015,375 were identified in the available documentation.

Legal Proceedings:

It is noteworthy that U.S. Patent No. 12,015,375, along with its sibling patent 12,015,376, has been the subject of a patent infringement case before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). In February 2026, the ITC made an initial determination that the patents had been infringed upon by Voltage Energy. The case also involved counterclaims of "unclean hands," which were initially dismissed by the ITC. A final decision from the ITC was anticipated in June of that year.