SunWorks Inc (SUNWQ)

[SandridgeEnergy]

I am not an professional expert on China, but I have studied the language and country under a former CIA Agent who spent decades at the Embassy in Beijing and have been [url]http://blogs.barrons.com/asiastocks/2014/12/23/nq-mobile-jumps-on-80-million-buyback-where-is-henry-lin-muddy-waters-asks//url][tag]quoted in Barrons[/tag]based on my analysis of the country related to a Chinese company I was looking at.

What do posters see as the commercial implications of the patent?

As it relates to China, the patent will probably not be very useful within or outside of China. The Chinese legal system simply does not enforce intellectual property rights effectively. For example see the case of FAB Universal (with the hilariously appropriate ticker symbol "FU") and their blatant piracy of copyrighted movies in this report by Alfred Little. Long story short, this report ended up getting the company delisted and becoming effectively defunct in US markets. However, despite the fact the entire operations of the company depended on flagrantly violating intellectual property laws in the middle of China's largest cities, nothing was done and the company still operates in China today.

Does a Chinese patent only apply in China or does it afford protection elsewhere?

I believe it would offer some protection in regards to other people patenting the same thing elsewhere because patents must be novel (for this very reason a German patent application from the 1990's that describes a similar 3D solar cell is preventing the US application from moving forward). However it would offer no protection from someone else manufacturing the item elsewhere. It really doesn't offer much protection in China either since the penalties even if they could win a judgement are fairly light (they may shut down the factory / destroy inventory but no monetary judgement possible). I don't expect the Chinese to be copying this anyways since the cell has always been simply a way to get people to buy stock and not a serious endeavor.

What do people see as the residential and small commercial solar opportunity in China....lots of people live in condos and apartments ...are these target markets for solar ?

For foreigners? Nothing. Foreigners are used only when expertise is unavailable domestically, and if China is good at anything it is construction.

What are posters understandings of Chinese Govt incentives for solar installations....ive googled and read and like so many things Chinese seem oblique and hard to understand

Welcome to China.