Tigo Energy, Inc.a provider of solar and energy storage solutions, has filed a lawsuit against SunSpec Alliance in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
After a decision in which the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) upheld Tigo’s claims related to the SunSpec Alliance rapid shutdown specification, Tigo alleges that SunSpec and its agents continued their long-standing campaign to encourage their members to infringe Tigo’s intellectual property rights by importing or selling them. offensive rapid fire extinguishers in the United States
Beginning with the official notice sent to the SunSpec Alliance in October 2017, Tigo has repeatedly informed the SunSpec Alliance that the Tigo patents are essential to the SunSpec Rapid Shutdown specification. Tigo asked SunSpec to inform its members that they should obtain a license from Tigo to manufacture, use, import, sell or offer for sale rapid shutdown devices that comply with SunSpec Rapid Shutdown specifications, and that Tigo would offer the license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. SunSpec refused and instead filed two IPR applications (inter pares review) with the USPTO in July 2021. SunSpec’s IPRs identified five member companies that benefited from this legal intervention.
In January 2023, the USPTO rejected one of SunSpec’s intellectual property rights in its entirety and ruled in favor of Tigo on three of SunSpec’s five other intellectual property claims.
“The patents in our IP portfolio are a core asset of Tigo, our claims have been validated by the USPTO, and we don’t see what would motivate anyone to encourage them to be infringed,” said Tigo Energy Inc. Chairman and CEO Zvi Alon. “Tigo’s goal is to offer our installers high-quality quick-stop solutions by investing in the research and development required for innovation. I reiterate that Tigo offers reasonable and non-discriminatory license terms to members of the SunSpec Alliance.”
Tigo has won a previous patent infringement lawsuit and currently has a pending lawsuit involving six patent infringement claims against SMA Solar Technology America LLC. Tigo has too licenses its patented technology for other solar power equipment manufacturers.
