PVTIME – The European Patent Office’s Board of Appeal has fully revoked Hanwha Solutions’ core photovoltaic patent (EP2220689), bringing to a close over 11 years of cross-border industrial litigation. Following oral proceedings in July, the ruling was delivered on the basis that the technical design failed to meet statutory inventive-step criteria, invalidating the entire patent portfolio.
Originally inherited from SolarWorld and due to expire in 2028, the revoked patent covered a double-layer dielectric surface passivation structure for silicon solar cells. This technology reduces carrier recombination losses, thereby improving cell conversion efficiency and forming the technical basis for Hanwha’s Q.ANTUM passivation cell products. For years, the patent has underpinned the company’s intellectual property litigation against competing manufacturers in Europe, the United States and Australia.
The protracted legal dispute has involved multiple leading global photovoltaic enterprises. In 2020, a German court ruled in favour of Hanwha in cases against LONGi, Jinko Solar and REC Solar. Judgments relating to Hanwha’s litigation against Trina Solar’s German subsidiary were published in 2022, after which Hanwha reached a patent licensing and assignment settlement with Trina Solar in 2023. REC Solar was the only party to persist with patent appeals without reaching a settlement until the final ruling.
This comprehensive revocation eliminates the patent’s legal validity within European jurisdictions, rather than merely restricting its protective scope. Previous national court judgements in Europe based on EP2220689 have lost their legal foundation, and the outcome will also affect evidentiary defences for related family patents in the United States and Australia.
Intellectual property professionals in the industry confirm that the ruling sets a clear precedent for the renewable energy sector. Photovoltaic process technologies that are based on the simple superposition of existing technical features will be subject to rigorous examination of the inventive step, with limited potential for long-term patent stability. Recognised as one of the most significant intellectual property cases in the global photovoltaic industry, it highlights the increasing use of patent litigation as a key competitive strategy amid mounting global solar trade disputes.
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