Ampt, a power electronics specialist based in Colorado, filed a lawsuit against SolarEdge, a major player in the power electronics space, for allegedly violating their patents. The company said that SolarEdge violated patents on “power optimizers that contain high-efficiency power converters that both allow maximum power-point output and use operational boundary conditions that continue producing power during conditions that might otherwise require the optimizer to be bypassed.”
Now, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has accepted the complaint from Ampt, and will launch an investigation into the alleged patent infringement. The ITC set a target of 45 days from the announced investigation to complete the review.
Ampt is seeking a ban of imports of SolarEdge products as well as a ban of a sale of these products in the United States after they are imported.
Image: Ampt
“We appreciate the Commission’s decision to investigate SolarEdge’s unlawful use of our proprietary technology without asking our permission or compensating us,” said Levent Gun, Ampt chief executive officer.
Simultaneously, Ampt filed a patent infringement action involving claims from eight of Ampt’s U.S. patents in the U.S. District Court in Delaware against SolarEdge seeking a finding of patent infringement, substantial monetary damages and an injunction.
Responding to the lawsuit SolarEdge told pv magazine:
“SolarEdge and AMPT have been litigating a dispute involving a patent family filed by SolarEdge and a patent family filed by AMPT before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for many years. Recently, the USPTO awarded priority of invention to SolarEdge, cancelled the claims of AMPT’s patents, and awarded the patent claims in these AMPT patents to SolarEdge.”
“It appears that having lost before the USPTO, AMPT is now shopping around its claims to other courts. SolarEdge anticipates a vigorous defense of these new cases.”
SolarEdge, along with other players in the solar industry, is expected to grow significantly following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes record spending for renewable energy technologies. JP Morgan recently increased its 12-month share price target for the company, listed as SEDG, from $373 to $419. The target implies a 51% increase from its current share price of $277.
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There are only so many ways of making DC electrical safety circuits as prescribed by new NEC rules on rooftop panel shut down. All these need to be set as “public domain” to allow for competition based on other factors such as efficiency or pricing. A diode is still a diode, and a Transistor junction is still a transistor junction.