DuPont Files Patent Lawsuit

EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. ( DD - Analyst Report ) recently took Heraeus Materials Technology and its client, SolarWorld Industries America, to court for a patent infringement. The company has filed a lawsuit against the defendants in the U.S. Federal Court for the District of Oregon.

DuPont has sued the two companies for infringing the U.S. Patent No. 8,158,504 B2, which was recently issued by the chemical giant. The patent in question relates to front-side metallization paste compositions used in solar cell technology, which Heraeus and SolarWorld infringed upon by manufacturing, selling and/or using Heraeus’ front-side silver pastes.

DuPont has made significant investments to bring innovation in the solar energy market. The company’s innovations have yielded positive results and have contributed towards making solar cell technology more efficient. Hence, it has acted in a swift manner to defend the advances it has made by patenting them and enforcing its intellectual property rights against trespassers.

The DuPont Solamet Photovoltaic Metallization Paste Technology, which is in midst of the litigation, is one of the leading technologies for metallization in crystalline silicon and thin film solar cell. The technology has helped make solar power more efficient in an effort to bring it at par with other methods of generating electricity.

However, it should be noted that destocking of photovoltaics led to a drop in sales of DuPont’s Electronics & Communications business in the recently reported first quarter as shipments fell 18%. But DuPont remains committed to delivering better solutions to the industry in a quest to make solar energy more mainstream, which is certainly impressive considering that it is one of the most important sources of alternative energy.

We currently have a long-term Neutral recommendation on DuPont. The company, which competes with The Dow Chemical Company ( DOW - Analyst Report ) and BASF SE ( BASFY ) , maintains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term (1 to 3 months) Hold rating.