Tigo Energy Inc. v. SunSpec Alliance

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 TIGO ENERGY INC., Case No. 23-cv-00762-WHO

Plaintiff,

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO

v. DISMISS

SUNSPEC ALLIANCE, Re: Dkt. No. 32 Defendant.

12 This case raises the apparently novel question of whether a standards setting entity (defendant SunSpec Alliance (“SunSpec”)) is liable for setting an industry standard for a “rapid shutdown system” (“RSS”) for solar panels that allegedly infringed another company’s (plaintiff Tigo Energy Inc. (“Tigo”)) patent. In its motion to dismiss, SunSpec raises a number of reasons why Tigo has not stated a claim, but they all rest on factual predicates that must be established in discovery. In the second amended complaint (“SAC”), Tigo has plausibly alleged that SunSpec infringed on the asserted claims, literally and under the doctrine of equivalents (“DOE”), by directing its affiliated laboratories to test third party products in accordance with its specification. By testing those products, the…