The world’s two largest makers of solar tracker systems — including Norwalk-based GameChange Solar Corp. — are suing each other in an escalating patent fight in federal court.
GameChange filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Delaware accusing California-based Nextpower Inc. of copying patented technology that helps protect solar panels from high winds. The lawsuit comes three months after Nextpower sued GameChange in the same court, alleging that GameChange’s tracker products infringe three of its patents.
Solar trackers are motorized racking systems that tilt and rotate rows of solar panels throughout the day to follow the sun, increasing the electricity a solar farm can generate compared with fixed-tilt panels.
GameChange and Nextpower are the two largest global suppliers of solar trackers, according to a Wood Mackenzie market report. Nextpower has held the No. 1 position for 11 consecutive years, with GameChange ranking second.
GameChange, founded in 2012, is headquartered at 230 East Ave. in Norwalk and lists the location as its primary office, along with service centers in Florida, Arizona, Spain, Chile, Colombia and India, according to the company’s website.
GameChange says in court filings it employs more than 740 people and operates in 20 countries.
GameChange’s new lawsuit centers on a patent covering technology that allows the outermost row of panels in a solar array to twist to a steep angle during high winds, helping shield the rows behind it from storm damage.
The complaint targets Nextpower’s “NX Horizon with Hail Pro” tracker system. GameChange’s lawsuit cites Nextpower’s own marketing materials, which say the system can stow at a 75-degree angle during severe weather.
GameChange is seeking an order blocking further sales of the product, as well as damages.
Nextpower’s lawsuit, filed June 1, accuses GameChange’s Genius Tracker line — which GameChange describes as its flagship product — of infringing three Nextpower patents covering self-powered tracker systems that can operate without external grid power.
Nextpower is seeking damages, an injunction and a ruling that GameChange’s infringement was willful, a finding that could allow a court to award up to three times the damages.
GameChange has moved to dismiss part of Nextpower’s complaint. A judge has set a trial date of Aug. 7, 2028.
Neither lawsuit specifies the damages being sought.
