On August 26, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued a ruling in the patent infringement case of Shoals Technologies Group v. Voltage LLC and its affiliate, Ningbo Voltage Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The court found Voltage liable for infringing two U.S. patents and ordered the defendants to pay damages totaling approximately $96.4 million (equivalent to approximately 650 million yuan).

Headquartered in North Carolina, Voltage LLC is a leading global provider of electrical balance-of-system (eBOS) solutions for utility-scale solar projects. The other defendant in this case, Ningbo Voltage Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd., is part of the Voltage Group alongside Voltage LLC and serves as its core manufacturing entity in China, specializing in the production of products such as wiring harnesses and branch cables.

It is reported that the patents in question are US 12,015,375 and US 12,015,376, which pertain to photovoltaic trunk bus cable assembly technology. After a comprehensive jury trial, the jury found that Voltage willfully infringed Shoals’ two valid patents, and the court dismissed all of the defendants’ defenses seeking to invalidate the patents.

The main point of contention in this case was the “Prosecution-Bar Stipulation” signed by both parties during the prior ITC Section 337 investigation. In 2023, the parties reached an agreement in a cross-border intellectual property investigation requiring Shoals’ legal team—which had access to Voltage’s proprietary product solutions, design-around strategies, and other trade secrets—to establish a firewall and refrain from participating in the prosecution of the patents at issue. The defendant argued that Shoals had engaged in unfair conduct and contended that the patents at issue should be deemed unenforceable; however, the court ultimately did not uphold this central defense.

The court held that the damages consisted of two components: first, $70.3 million in lost profits—that is, the sales profits Shoals would have earned had the defendant’s infringing products not engaged in low-price competition; and second, $26.1 million in price erosion damages—that is, the losses incurred by Shoals as a result of being forced to lower its prices to counter the low-price competition.

It is worth noting that in the preceding Section 337 investigation, the ITC had already issued a limited exclusion order, comprehensively prohibiting Voltage from manufacturing, distributing, or selling infringing LYNX series products within the United States. However, Voltage’s upgraded LYNX PLUS product was not found to infringe and may be imported and sold normally in the U.S. market, thereby preserving some market operating space for the defendant.

Case Background

In May 2023, Shoals initiated the first round of the Section 337 investigation (337-TA-1365) and simultaneously filed a lawsuit in district court;

In January 2025, the ITC issued a preliminary determination of infringement;

That same month, Shoals initiated a second round of the Section 337 investigation (337-TA-1438) based on newly licensed patents;

In February 2025, the ITC’s preliminary determination was overturned upon review by the Commission, and Voltage was found not to have infringed;

In June 2026, the ITC issued a final determination of infringement and a limited exclusion order;

In August 2026, a district court jury awarded $96.4 million in damages.