In a Delaware court docket, First Photo voltaic alleged the Indian firm had infringed upon two patented applied sciences for photo voltaic panel manufacturing, demanding compensation for damages it hasn’t specified but. MSPVL has denied the costs. Mint has seen the court docket filings.
First Photo voltaic has already sued a Chinese language photo voltaic maker over the identical cost, and despatched warning letters to a number of others over the alleged patent violation. The Nasdaq-listed firm stands to learn if photo voltaic panel imports to the US are curtailed.
The dispute comes at a time when Indian corporations have gained from America’s 50% tariff on Chinese language photo voltaic cells and polysilicon. The US, which has imposed stiff tariffs on a number of Indian items, has stored photo voltaic cells out of those tariffs.
Queries despatched to the Adani Group and First Photo voltaic on Monday remained unanswered.
The case
Nasdaq-listed First Photo voltaic wrote to the Adani Group on 1 April, accusing it of copying the 2 applied sciences. MSPVL swiftly moved a Delaware court docket on 15 April, the place First Photo voltaic has additionally sued a Chinese language firm on related prices, urging the decide to declare that it doesn’t infringe on First Photo voltaic’s patents. The corporate claimed that its manufacturing course of is totally different from First Photo voltaic’s patented know-how, and highlighted a number of variations between the 2 processes, together with on warmth remedy.
Following this, the US firm on 1 August filed a counterclaim towards the Adani Group in the identical court docket, alleging infringement of its patents and looking for damages, the quantum of which is but to be calculated.
Each corporations have demanded a jury trial.
Below US patent regulation, an entity can keep away from literal infringement if it doesn’t comply with each step of a patented course of precisely, mentioned Swapna Sundar, founder and director, IP Dome. However she cautioned that infringement can nonetheless be discovered underneath the doctrine of equivalents if the modifications carry out the identical perform, in the identical manner, and obtain the identical consequence as the unique course of.
She famous that the Adani Group has a powerful technical case, arguing that skipping the warmth remedy step in First Photo voltaic’s patented course of produces a essentially totally different product. “The temperature change (larger temperature vary) by Adani may very well be sufficient to keep away from even equivalence,” she mentioned. “Nonetheless, First Photo voltaic should still argue it’s shut sufficient to rely as infringement.”
The know-how
On the coronary heart of the matter is TOPCon, a know-how for making extra environment friendly photo voltaic cells. Between 2015 and 2017, the US patent workplace awarded two patents for TOPCon manufacturing to Tetrasun, Inc., an organization acquired by First Photo voltaic in 2013.
First Photo voltaic, which makes use of a special thin-film know-how for its personal panels, started investigating potential patent infringement by rivals utilizing TOPCon in June 2024. The corporate despatched warning letters to a number of rivals, together with JinkoSolar, Longi Photo voltaic, Trina Photo voltaic, JA Photo voltaic, and Canadian Photo voltaic final yr. In February, it escalated the difficulty by suing JinkoSolar in a Delaware court docket.
Adani, nonetheless, claims First Photo voltaic’s patent was initially restricted to a special photo voltaic cell know-how, HJT cells, and didn’t cowl TOPCon. MSPVL additionally claims it does not use a warmth remedy course of that’s central to First Photo voltaic’s know-how.
The implications
Out of Adani’s annual 4 GW photo voltaic manufacturing capability, MSPVL accounts for half, whereas the remainder comes from Mundra Photo voltaic Vitality Ltd (MSEL), which isn’t a part of the lawsuit. MSPVL doubled income in FY25 to ₹6,353 crore, whereas revenue jumped over fivefold to ₹1085 crore. In accordance with India Rankings, greater than half of MSPVL’s enterprise comes from the US.
“Export gross sales have been yielding larger margins on account of strong demand, particularly from the US, which has disincentivized imports from China. In consequence, India has turn into a key exporter of photo voltaic modules to the US,” the score company mentioned in a be aware on 2 April.
MSPVL is totally owned by Adani Inexperienced Expertise Ltd, which is majority-owned by Adani Tradecom Ltd, which in flip is a 100% subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd. It has a producing capability of two GW per yr of TOPCon photo voltaic cells and modules.
MSEL, one other unit of Adani Enterprises, makes 2 GW of monopassivated emitter and rear contact (mono-PERC) know-how photo voltaic cells and modules a yr. That know-how isn’t accused of any violation.
Each corporations are a part of Adani New Industries Ltd which, together with photo voltaic cell manufacturing, homes the group’s different inexperienced vitality companies together with the manufacturing of inexperienced hydrogen, wind generators and electrolyzers.
The Adani Group is seeking to ramp up its photo voltaic cell making capability to 10 GW a yr, chief monetary officer Robbie Singh mentioned in an Adani Enterprises earnings name on 31 July.
First Photo voltaic, which follows a January-December monetary yr, ended with $4.21 billion in income and $1.29 billion in revenue in 2024. Its shares had been buying and selling at about $184.65 on the NASDAQ, down about 1% for the reason that starting of the yr.
In November 2024, the US Securities and Alternate Fee and the Division of Justice filed a case towards billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar for allegedly paying greater than $250 million in bribes to Indian authorities officers between 2020 and 2024 to acquire profitable solar-energy contracts. The SEC’s case is whether or not Adani broke the US Securities Act when Adani Inexperienced raised cash from US buyers, because it didn’t disclose a justice division probe into allegations of bribes paid by the corporate’s administrators to unnamed Indian officers between 2020 and 2024.
The Ahmedabad-based conglomerate, which counts 10 listed corporations, has denied the allegations by the DoJ and the SEC, describing the accusations towards its administrators as “baseless.”
