PTAB challenges

Proceedings overview

US Patent 9722104 has been the subject of three AIA trial proceedings, all Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs), which have concluded with a Final Written Decision. As of today, June 15, 2026, all three IPRs (IPR2025-00918, IPR2025-00186, and IPR2025-00007) have reached a Final Written Decision stage, with varying outcomes regarding claim validity. The detailed outcomes from these proceedings will determine the bottom-line defensive posture, as claims may have been invalidated or sustained.

IPR2025-00918 — Canadian Solar (USA) Inc. et al. v. Trina Solar Co. Ltd.

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2025-04-28
• Status: Final Written Decision
• Judge panel: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Petition grounds: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Institution decision: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Final Written Decision (if issued): Not publicly available from accessible search results. I cannot determine the specific claims that were canceled or held patentable, nor the panel's reasoning.
• Settlement / termination: Not publicly available from accessible search results.
• Appeal: Not publicly available from accessible search results.
• Defensive value: Without the Final Written Decision, the specific impact on the patent's claims for a defendant facing assertion is unknown.

IPR2025-00186 — Mundra Solar PV Ltd. et al. v. Trina Solar Co. Ltd.

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2024-11-22
• Status: Final Written Decision
• Judge panel: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Petition grounds: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Institution decision: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Final Written Decision (if issued): Not publicly available from accessible search results. I cannot determine the specific claims that were canceled or held patentable, nor the panel's reasoning.
• Settlement / termination: Not publicly available from accessible search results.
• Appeal: Not publicly available from accessible search results.
• Defensive value: Without the Final Written Decision, the specific impact on the patent's claims for a defendant facing assertion is unknown.

IPR2025-00007 — Runergy Alabama Inc et al. v. Trina Solar Co. Ltd.

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2024-10-04
• Status: Final Written Decision
• Judge panel: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Petition grounds: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Institution decision: Not publicly available from provided data or accessible search results.
• Final Written Decision (if issued): Not publicly available from accessible search results. I cannot determine the specific claims that were canceled or held patentable, nor the panel's reasoning.
• Settlement / termination: Not publicly available from accessible search results.
• Appeal: Not publicly available from accessible search results.
• Defensive value: Without the Final Written Decision, the specific impact on the patent's claims for a defendant facing assertion is unknown.

Strategic summary

All three listed IPR proceedings (IPR2025-00918, IPR2025-00186, and IPR2025-00007) against US Patent 9722104 have reached the "Final Written Decision" stage. However, despite diligent search, the public details regarding the specific claims challenged, prior art cited, institution decisions, and, crucially, the claim-level outcomes in the Final Written Decisions (i.e., which claims were canceled or sustained) are not accessible from the provided information or public search results at this time. Therefore, it is currently impossible to definitively state which claims of US9722104 are now CANCELED vs. SUSTAINED vs. UNTESTED.

Without the FWDs, the estoppel landscape is also unclear. Per 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2), a petitioner (and its real parties in interest and privies) is estopped from asserting in any other proceeding before the Office or in any civil action, any ground that the petitioner raised or reasonably could have raised during the IPR. The lack of FWD details means we cannot identify the prior art grounds that might be barred. The filings by different petitioners (Canadian Solar, Mundra Solar PV, and Runergy Alabama) indicate a broad interest in challenging this patent, and Trina Solar Co. Ltd. is the consistent Patent Owner across these challenges.

Recommended next steps

As a defendant, the immediate next step would be to obtain the full Final Written Decisions for IPR2025-00918, IPR2025-00186, and IPR2025-00007 from the USPTO PTAB E2E public search portal. These documents will contain the critical claim-by-claim analysis and disposition. It is essential to understand precisely which claims, if any, were invalidated and the reasoning behind those decisions. If any asserted claims have been canceled, this significantly weakens any infringement theory built upon them. Without this specific information, it is not possible to provide concrete defensive recommendations beyond obtaining the primary source documents.