Maxeon and Aiko settle solar panel dispute

Chinese photovoltaic manufacturer Aiko Energy will now take five-year licences for the use of Maxeon Solar’s technology outside the US, including both existing patents and those to be newly added over the next five years, with no reverse licensing involved. According to a press release of Aiko, both parties agreed to fully withdraw and terminate all pending and potential patent disputes between them.

The companies did not comment on the financial details of the agreement. However, according to a LinkedIn post by Michael Ma of Chinese IP consulting and media company PRIP Research, the patent licensing agreement is worth $231 million and marks “the largest publicly disclosed patent licensing agreement between Chinese companies in China’s patent history”. According to another post by PurpleVine, the IP firm handling the global coordination and management of the litigation as well as the licensing negotiations on behalf of Maxeon, the total value of the licence fee is reportedly RMB 1.65 billion (approx. $168,3 million), with RMB 250 million (approx. $36 million) payable in 2026.

The two solar technology companies have been disputing various Maxeon patents for years at national courts and most recently at the UPC. The patent holder accused its competitor Aiko of infringing its EP 2 297 788, EP 2 297 789 and EP 3 065 184 and filed lawsuits in various courts based on these patents.

Various jurisdictions

Maxeon filed an action for EP 788 at Mannheim Regional Court (case IDs: 14 O 39/24 and 14 O 89/24). Aiko responded with a nullity action at the Federal Patent Court against the German part of patent DE 60 2009 038 887 (case ID: 2 Ni 10/24). In a qualified reference, the court upheld the patent in amended form.

Simultaneously, Maxeon filed an action over EP 788 at The Hague District Court (case ID: C/09/658707 / KG ZA 23-1096) against VDH Solar Groothandel, Eironn Netherlands and Libra Energy. The court of first instance dismissed the application for a preliminary injunction. Maxeon appealed and later withdrew the appeal against the judgment (case ID: 200.343.042/01).

In parallel, Maxeon initiated further proceedings against various Aiko companies and distributors such as Wattkraft, DWH, Memodo and Tepto at Munich Regional Court concerning EP 789 (case ID: 21 O 15568/25).

At the Düsseldorf local division, the dispute centred on EP 184, which protects a “trench process and structure for backside contact solar cells with polysilicon doped” (case IDs: UPC_CFI_336/2024, UPC_CFI_605/2024, UPC_CFI_607/2024). The defendants in this case were also various Aiko companies as well as distributors such as VDH Solar, PowerDeal and Coenergia. The oral hearing took place in mid-December and the court had planned to hand down a verdict on 11 February. The division had previously postponed publishing the decision twice.

German-Dutch alliance

Maxeon banked on Bird & Bird in most of the proceedings against Aiko and its distributors. In the German infringement proceedings at Mannheim Regional Court and at the UPC, a German team from Bird & Bird represented claimant Maxeon Solar. Düsseldorf-based lead partner Christian Harmsen and counsel Bastian Selck worked with partner Felix Harbsmeier and associate Cameron Walker, both patent attorneys at the Hamburg office of Bird & Bird. Patent attorney Axel Esser of Hoffmann Eitle assisted on validity and technical issues. The patent attorneys of Bird & Bird and Hoffmann Eitle also defended EP 788 in the nullity suit at the Federal Patent Court.

A Dutch team from Bird & Bird acted for Maxeon in the proceedings in The Hague. The team included lead partner Tjibbe Douma and Carlos van Staveren as well as Emilia Zalewska.

Meanwhile, a team from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan represented Maxeon in the dispute over EP 789 at Munich Regional Court. The team led by litigator Marcus Grosch included Mannheim based partner Johannes Bukow as well as associates Felix Hartisch, Nina Balta and Anton Noldenn.

Hogan Lovells represented Aiko in the Dutch proceedings and at the UPC. A team led by partner Gertjan Kuipers from the Amsterdam office led the case for Aiko in The Hague. Kuipers, Hendrik Jan Ridderinkhof and Floris Patijn also acted for the defendant at the UPC, where they cooperated with a German team around partners Henrik Lehment and Andreas Schmid. The team included associate Vanessa Zipperich and patent attorney Cedric Rohr.

Meanwhile, Constantin Kurtz, formerly of Munich-based IP boutique Klaka, who recently moved to CMS, represented some of Aiko’s distributors like Memodo, Libra Energy and Coenergia at the UPC.

In the German proceedings at the Regional Court Mannheim, as well as in the nullity suit over EP 789, a team from Bardehle Pagenberg acted for Aiko. Partners Georg Anetsberger and Christof Karl led the nullity and infringement case, with assistance by Niels Malkomes.