Hanwha has appealed the recent decision by the Tribunal Judiciaire of Paris. In response to LONGi’s press release and statements about the decision, Qcells intends to set the record straight.
[Berlin, Germany, June 27, 2022] Qcells today confirms that its parent company, Hanwha Solutions Corporation (“Hanwha”), has appealed the recent decision by the Tribunal Judiciaire of Paris.
On June 7, 2022, the interim relief judge of the Tribunal ordered the withdrawal of the evidentiary seizure that took place at Hanwha’s request in February 2021 at the premises of a LONGi distributor. Hanwha respectfully disagrees with the Tribunal’s decision and has filed an appeal to the Paris Court of Appeal.
Recently, LONGi posted a press release on its website in addition to releasing statements to a news outlet in part to discuss the Tribunal’s June 7 decision. In response to several claims in the press release and news articles that Qcells considers incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading, Qcells wants to set the record straight and point out the following:
1) Hanwha did not purposely mislead the court or try to obtain confidential information from its competitors.
Contrary to LONGi’s claim that Hanwha purposely misled the court, Hanwha believes that it had disclosed all relevant information to the Tribunal when it requested an evidentiary seizure in February 2021. Furthermore, after the evidentiary seizure took place at the premises of a LONGi distributor in France, Hanwha cooperated in good faith with the LONGi distributor and redacted information deemed confidential from the seized documents. Hence, LONGi’s claims that Hanwha “purposely misled” the court or that Hanwha was motivated to “obtain highly confidential, sensitive information from its competitor” are false.
2) The recent ruling in France does not affect the outcome of the Dutch proceedings.
LONGi has argued that “a significant portion of Hanwha’s evidence” used in the Dutch proceeding came from the seizure in France and that the Tribunal’s June 7 decision could lead to a reversal of the outcome in the Dutch proceeding. Neither of the claims is true. In the context of the litigation in the Netherlands, the limited amount of the evidence obtained from the seizure in France has been replaced by similar (and even more) evidence produced by the Dutch subsidiary of LONGi (“LONGi NL”). Furthermore, the ongoing dispute over the validity of the seizure in France, regardless of the outcome, will have no impact on the Dutch proceeding.
3) The customers of LONGi NL’s right to return the infringing modules remains unchanged.
As a result of the Hague Court of Appeal’s judgment in the preliminary injunction proceedings of March 1, 2022, LONGi NL was ordered to provide Hanwha with a list of customers located in 11 European countries to which LONGi had offered or sold products covered by Hanwha’s European patent 2 220 689 (“EP ’689”). Furthermore, LONGi NL was obligated to send a letter to the customers stating that LONGi solar modules of the types Hi-M03, Hi-M03m, Hi-M04, Hi M04m, Hi-M05 and Hi-M05m types (except for products referred to by HIH, HIB and HIBD) infringe the EP ’689. The customers who still possess the above LONGi solar modules for sale or are professionally using them remain entitled to return the solar modules to LONGi NL for an immediate refund.
About Qcells
Qcells is one of the world’s leading clean energy companies, recognized for its established reputation as a manufacturer of high-performance, high-quality solar cells and modules, portfolio of intelligent storage systems, and growing international pipeline of large-scale renewable energy projects. Qcells also provides renewable electricity retail services and packages to end customers the world over. The company is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea (Global Executive HQ) and Thalheim, Germany (Technology & Innovation HQ) with its diverse international manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Malaysia, China, and South Korea. Qcells offers Completely Clean Energy through the full spectrum of photovoltaic products, storage solutions, renewable electricity contracting and large-scale solar power plants. Through its growing global business network spanning Europe, North America, Asia, South America, Africa and the Middle East, Qcells provides excellent services and long-term partnerships to its customers in the utility, commercial, governmental and residential markets. For more information, visit: http://www.q-cells.com.
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