Patent Law

Rick Merritt writing today, December 3, 2008, for EE Times discusses a recently issued report:

Canon, TSMC and Samsung are among the largest patent holders in solar photovoltaic panels, although they have no products in the field today. By contrast, many of the world's biggest producers of solar panels hold relatively few patents on the technology.

That was one conclusion of a 70-page report analyzing U.S. patents in solar technology by Semiconductor Insights, a division of United Business Media, the publisher of EE Times. The report analyzes trends in U.S. solar patents by company and technology.

Patent activity has risen steeply since 1996 when about 25 solar patents were issued a year to 2006 when about 170 patents were awarded, the report found. Canon, TSMC, Sharp and Samsung were the top four patent holders respectively, according to the report which called Samsung "the IP gorilla in this relatively new field."

The panel makers may be adopting a strategy of getting to market quickly by licensing or acquiring existing technology, the report said. "Surely, they may face big challenges from companies with more solid patent portfolios and who are savvier when it comes to protecting their intellectual property," it added.

As many as 600 companies are involved in solar panel market, with as many as 60 new companies joining each year since 2000, according to the report. "This has produced an extremely fragmented market and will no doubt provide many opportunities for consolidation over the next decade," it concluded.

Will be interesting to watch what this patent imbalance does to licensing and litigation in this market.  See the full article here including a link to the report.