Solaria filed suit against GCL Solar Energy, a subsidiary of GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd., on September 9, 2016, in the Superior Court of the State Court of California, for violating the terms of the parties’ 2014 nondisclosure agreement, committing acts of unfair competition by misappropriating Solaria’s confidential trade secret information and using the information to make solar panels based on Solaria’s proprietary technology.
Prior to the hearing on Solaria’s motion for a temporary restraining order and order to show cause for a preliminary injunction,GCL agreed on the terms of a court order which, among other things, requires GCL not to further use or disclose any confidential information provided by Solaria to GCL in 2014-15 during the parties’ collaborations over a potential licensing and manufacturing agreement.
The Court entered the stipulated order on September 26, 2016, which takes effect immediately and will remain in place until a preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for early 2017. The court order allows for early discovery into the nature and extent of the misappropriation of Solaria’s trade secrets, including whether other persons or companies may have been involved in the corporate theft.
“GCL misappropriated Solaria IP, technology and manufacturing processes for its own use, in violation of our non-disclosure agreement,” said Solaria CEO Suvi Sharma. “The investigation into this intellectual property theft is ongoing, and we will take appropriate action, including bringing in additional parties to the lawsuit if warranted, in order to protect our business interests.
“Solaria has spent over a decade and made significant investments in developing its core technology in solar cell cutting, stringing and panel making backed by over 100 patents. We’re satisfied that the court entered the stipulated order at this early stage to enforce Solaria’s superior technology rights in high-efficiency solar panel manufacturing to prevent further illegal and criminal activity by companies such as GCL.”
News item from Solaria