First Solar Patent Applications Denied
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jan 20 2026
0mins
First Solar (FSLR) announced that the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, denied three separate inter partes review, or IPR, applications seeking to invalidate the company's Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact patents through a review process. The IPRs were filed by JinkoSolar (JKS), Mundra Solar, and Canadian Solar (CSIQ) in 2025, and were declined on November 20, December 11, and December 18, respectively. "First Solar believes the USPTO properly exercised its discretion in each of the cases brought by Jinko, Canadian Solar and Mundra," said Jason Dymbort, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, First Solar. "We believe that this is consistent with USPTO's 'Settled Expectations' doctrine, which is underpinned by the principle that the longer a patent has been in force, the stronger and more settled the patent owner's expectations should be. The patents at issue in each of these matters were issued in 2015 and 2017, respectively, long before each of these manufacturers' petitions were filed."
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Analyst Views on CSIQ
Wall Street analysts forecast CSIQ stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for CSIQ is 20.14 USD with a low forecast of 5.58 USD and a high forecast of 37.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
9 Analyst Rating
2 Buy
2 Hold
5 Sell
Moderate Sell
Current: 19.770
Low
5.58
Averages
20.14
High
37.00
Current: 19.770
Low
5.58
Averages
20.14
High
37.00
About CSIQ
Canadian Solar Inc. is a Canada-based solar technology and renewable energy company. It is a manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, a provider of solar energy and battery energy storage solutions, and a developer of utility-scale solar power and battery energy storage projects with a geographically diversified pipeline in various stages of development. It operates through two segments: Recurrent Energy, and CSI Solar. The Recurrent Energy segment is vertically integrated and focuses on greenfield origination, development, financing, execution, operations and maintenance, and asset management. The CSI Solar segment consists of solar module and battery energy storage manufacturing, and delivery of total system solutions, including inverters, solar system kits, and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services. It has developed, built, and connected around 10 Giga Watt peak (GWp) of solar power projects and 3.3 GWh of battery energy storage projects across the world.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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