Oerlikon files suit against Sunfilm

Pfaeffikon, Switzerland-based OC Oerlikon, a manufacturer of thin-film solar photovoltaic equipment, announced today that it has filed a complaint against Grossroehrsdorf, Germany's Sunfilm, alleging patent infringement.

Oerlikon said the lawsuit was filed with the German District Court of Duesseldorf.

The company said that plans by Sunfilm to enter the market with tandem junction photovoltaic modules is in violation of Oerlikon's exclusive license.

"With this action, Oerlikon Solar is taking steps to protect our core assets and those of our customers," said Jeannine Sargent, CEO of Oerlikon Solar.

"Our IP represents the cumulative work product of thousands of scientists and engineers for over twenty years, including millions of dollars of investment."

Oerlikon said that Sunfilm's manufacturing setup in Saxony, Germany, is designed to infringe upon both method and product that are protected Oerlikon's patents.

The patent, which the company said describes the fundamentals of micromorph tandem cell technology, was obtained by Oerlikon in 2003 from the Institute de Microtechnique of the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland.

"Oerlikon wants to assure our stakeholders that we will enforce and protect our intellectual property and will aggressively pursue all parties who are suspected of violating these rights," said Sargent.

Earlier this month, Sunfilm broke ground for its second production line in Grossroehrsdorf, which it said would produce high efficiency tandem junction technology-based silicon thin-film photovoltaic modules.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) was announced as the supplier of production equipment for Sunfilm's new facility.