First Solar Sues JA Solar and American Panel Solutions Over TOPCon Patent

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR ) said on 1 oktober 2026 that it has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against JA Solar Technology Co., Ltd., JA Solar International, Ltd., JA Solar Vietnam Co., Ltd., and JA Solar Industrial Corp., collectively JA Solar, together with American Panel Solutions LLC, alleging infringement of its US Patent No. 9,130,074.

The ‘074 patent covers methods of manufacturing Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) crystalline silicon photovoltaic solar cells. The suit names American Panel Solutions LLC, which First Solar refers to as AMPS, alongside the JA Solar entities.

Jason Dymbort, First Solar’s executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, said the company has been clear that it will actively defend its intellectual property rights in the United States and internationally. “This lawsuit is an effort to hold JA Solar and AMPS accountable for their unauthorized use of First Solar’s patented technology and reinforces the need for TOPCon manufacturers operating in the United States to respect the well-defined framework of intellectual property law,” he said in the company’s announcement.

First Solar obtained the US TOPCon patents and related international counterparts through its 2013 acquisition of TetraSun, Inc. The portfolio includes issued patents in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, with validities extending to 2030 and beyond, according to the company, as well as pending applications in the European Union, Japan, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. In juli 2024, First Solar announced its ownership of the TOPCon patent portfolio and the launch of infringement investigations against several leading crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturers.

Earlier Challenges to the TOPCon Patents

The Delaware filing follows a series of administrative challenges to the patents. On 20 januari 2026, First Solar announced that the director of the US Patent and Trademark Office had denied three separate inter partes review applications filed in 2025 by JinkoSolar, Mundra Solar, and Canadian Solar (CSIQ ) that sought to invalidate the company’s TOPCon patents through a review process. The petitions were denied on November 20, December 11, and December 18 of that year, respectively. JinkoSolar and Canadian Solar had sought to invalidate the ‘074 patent now asserted against JA Solar and AMPS, while Mundra Solar’s application sought review of First Solar’s US Patent No. 9,666,732. Both patents cover methods of manufacturing TOPCon crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, and First Solar said the patents at issue were issued in 2015 and 2017.

The company has pending infringement lawsuits against all three petitioners in the District of Delaware, according to its januari 2026 announcement. Dymbort said in that announcement that First Solar believed the patent office had properly exercised its discretion in each case and that the denials were consistent with the agency’s Settled Expectations doctrine, which he described as underpinned by the principle that the longer a patent has been in force, the stronger and more settled the patent owner’s expectations should be.

Trade Commission Proceedings

The new lawsuit also follows First Solar’s earlier pursuit of a trade remedy before the US International Trade Commission. The commission voted on 26 mars 2026 to institute an investigation of certain TOPCon solar cells, modules, panels, components, and products containing them, based on a complaint filed on First Solar’s behalf on 24 februari 2026 and supplemented on 10 mars 2026. The complaint alleged violations of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation of TOPCon products that infringe certain claims of the asserted patent, and the complainant requested a general exclusion order or, in the alternative, a limited exclusion order, plus cease and desist orders, according to the commission’s institution notice. The commission said that by instituting the investigation, designated 337-TA-1494, it had not yet made any decision on the merits of the case.

The commission’s respondent list included JA Solar Technology Co., Ltd. of Beijing, China; JA Solar USA, Inc. of San Jose, California; JA Solar AZ, LLC of Phoenix, Arizona; JA Solar International, Ltd. of Kowloon, Hong Kong; and JA Solar Vietnam Co., Ltd. of Bac Giang, Vietnam. Entities affiliated with Axitec, Canadian Solar, JinkoSolar, Mundra Solar and Adani Green Energy (ADANIGREEN.BO ), Philadelphia Solar, Hanwha Q CELLS, Runergy, Trina Solar, T1 Energy (TE ), and VSUN and Toyo were also named. American Panel Solutions was not among the listed respondents.

On 15 september 2026, First Solar announced it would voluntarily withdraw the Section 337 complaint and move to terminate the USITC investigation without prejudice to refiling at a later date. The company said it would continue pursuing its existing TOPCon patent lawsuits in US District Court, including cases against affiliates of Canadian Solar, Jinko Solar, T1 Energy, and Trina Solar that had been stayed pending the results of the Section 337 investigation, and that it intended to continue enforcement efforts against other manufacturers it believes infringe its TOPCon portfolio, a process it had paused following its Section 337 complaint. First Solar said the decision followed the Trump administration’s national security action on imports of polysilicon and its derivatives under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, and Dymbort called the withdrawal “a procedural decision that clears the way for our pending suits to move forward and for additional suits we anticipate filing,” according to the September announcement.

American Panel Solutions appears in official trade records as a US producer of crystalline silicon photovoltaic products. In its evaluation of the effectiveness of the safeguard measure on such products, the USITC identified American Panel Solutions as one of ten US producers that reported on the efforts they made to compete more effectively after the safeguard measures were imposed, including constructing new production facilities, investing in new equipment, developing new products, and investing in workforce training. The safeguard measure was in effect from 7 februari 2018 until its termination on 6 februari 2026, according to the commission’s augusti 2026 evaluation report.