Heraeus Photovoltaics receives China patent

Heraeus Photovoltaics, a supplier of metallization solutions to the PV industry, announced that the Chinese Patent Reexamination Board of the State Intellectual Property Office (PRB) confirmed the validity of the Chinese Patent No. 201010529562.7 and dismissed the invalidation action filed in June 2015. On June 10, 2015 Heraeus filed a complaint with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Court against Giga Solar Materials Corporation for patent infringement of Heraeus’ Patent No. I432539.

The Chinese patent refers to a conductive paste having a low dependence on firing temperature, making a precise control of the firing temperature unnecessary. This allows an easy fire-through control, achieving a stable ohmic contact even without the presence of lead-oxide in the glass frit. The overall benefit is that solar cells with comparable or superior performance and characteristics to those of conventional solar cells can be produced in a simpler and environmental-friendly way.

“We are very pleased by the PRB’s decision,” said Andreas Liebheit, President of Heraeus Photovoltaics Global Business Unit. “Heraeus is constantly innovating its products and technology and has a broad range of next generation inventions for which we are pursuing and enforcing patent protection. We will continue to aggressively protect our intellectual property rights and challenge those of alleged infringers,” concluded Liebheit.

According to Dr. Weiming Zhang, Senior Vice President Innovations of Heraeus Photovoltaics Global Business Unit, the favorable resolution enables the company to move forward. “Our aim is to develop superior products, incorporating an intellectual property which clearly makes a difference to our customers. With the decision of the PRB we can move this process forward.”