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DuPont sues SunEdison over solar material patent [St. Louis Post-Dispatch :: ](St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 21--Chemical giant DuPont on Thursday sued SunEdison for patent infringement, accusing the O'Fallon, Mo., based solar array developer of contracting with suppliers and manufacturers that infringed on proprietary DuPont technology. In an announcement, DuPont said SunEdison and its affiliate NVT LLC sourced and used solar cells and modules from cell manufacturer Neo Solar Power and Flextronics, a contract manufacturer. DuPont says that SunEdison is iusing metallization paste, an important solar cell component, from Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. DuPont says the technology falls under its patent for "Tellurium" paste. "DuPont will enforce its patent rights to protect our substantial investment in innovation to improve solar energy efficiency," Peter Brenner, the company's photovoltaic business manager, said in a statement. "Installers and module makers like SunEdison are responsible for ensuring that their products do not use infringing cells or pastes." SunEdison and SunEdison Semiconductor are longtime partners of Samsung. SunEdison declined to comment. DuPont has defended its solar paste patent in the past. In 2012, it sued Germany-based Heraeus Materials and its client, SolarWorld, which has a manufacturing plant in Oregon. The parties settled in October. Jacob Barker is a business reporter at the Post-Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @jacobbarker and the Business section @postdispatchbiz. ___ (c)2014 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |