First off, none of us here are patent lawyers so we probably don't really know the true significance or insignificance of any of these patent issues in the grand scheme of things.
What I do know is that DBrown received a personal phone call directly from Jim Nelson in which Nelson stated we are all set with the patents and that we will have full infringement protection. He said the recent news about not getting the "Inventive Step" on the patent was no big deal and that it's all part of the process. See DBrown's post for all the details.
This, like most things, is an odds game.
Are you betting that Jim Nelson is directly deceiving the shareholders and/or that he would be dumb enough to spend all those years and money building this 3D Cell and seeking out manufacturing partners for it without knowing for sure that he would get the patent for it? If so, then sell and/or stay on the sidelines.
Or are you betting that Jim Nelson is telling the truth and/or that he's intelligent enough to plan for these patent issues before undergoing years of work in building a 3D Cell and seeking out manufacturing partners? If so, buy/hold.
Judging by Nelson's impressive resume of investment and business success in the past along with the fact that he seems like a genuinely good guy, and the fact that he was actually willing to talk to a concerned independent investor in a one-on-one personal phone call (which he wouldn't do unless he was borderline evil deceptive or unless he's confident that we are all set with the patent), I would say the odds are that Nelson is correct and that Solar3D will eventually have an exclusive patent for the unique 3D Cell they've developed in which case this stock is launching to the moon. Couple that with Sunworks and the fact that they will likely continue to rapidly expand revenues and continue to be profitable - since the solar sector is exploding and demand for solar power will continue to rapidly grow - and I'd say the odds are very good that SLTD performs extremely well over the next few years.
Now about the patent.
True, Panasonic has the patent for something similar to what Solar3D has developed. But they've had this patent since 2003 and have done jack sh*t with it. You don't see Panasonic selling millions of revolutionary 3D Cell Solar Panels and dwarfing First Solar in solar panel market share. However, Solar3D has figured out how to transform the 3D Cell concept into their own unique functional product which not only produces 25%+ efficiency and 200% total power output of conventional cells, but which can also be mass manufactured with cheap materials. Panasonic sells two models of solar panels in total, neither of which uses the 3D Cell concept and neither of which comes anywhere close to the performance of Solar3D's cell. So who is really the innovator here, and who really has the "inventive" product? Couple this with Jim's assurance that we are good with the patent as well as a profitable Sunworks and the odds look very good in favor of SLTD.
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