Shares of Giga Solar Materials Corp (碩禾) took a beating yesterday after Germany’s Heraeus Holding GmbH filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Taiwanese firm, dealers said.
While Giga Solar, a solar cell material supplier, said that its operations remained normal, despite the patent infringement allegation, its share price came under heavy pressure throughout the trading session, the dealers said.
The stock fell 3.94 percent to close at NT$536, with 2.18 million shares changing hands on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market.
Shares of multicrystalline solar wafer maker Gigastorage Corp (國碩科技), Giga Solar’s parent company, ended down 2.83 percent at NT$22.30.
The GRETAI closed up 0.19 percent at 135.34 points, while the TAIEX edged up 0.04 percent to 9,302.49 points.
Giga Solar shares opened lower following reports that Heraeus’ photovoltaics business unit had filed a lawsuit with the Intellectual Property Court in Taipei. The stock remained weak through the end of the session.
Heraeus accused Giga Solar of infringing on three patents related to the production of front-side silver metallization paste materials used for solar cell manufacturing.
With shipments of Giga Solar’s silver metallization paste materials expanding significantly, the Taiwanese firm has taken a 30 percent share of the global market since the end of last year and is expected to further expand its share, analysts say.
Giga Solar said it has not received any official judicial notice about the case, but it has instructed its lawyers to look into the lawsuit.
The Taiwanese firm said it has strong research and development capabilities and has built a large patent portfolio, so it has faith in its ability to protect its intellectual property rights.
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