Unilin Files Several Patent Infringement Suits

Dallas, TX, March 24, 2014 -- In the past week, Unilin said it filed several patent infringement cases in the district court of California against multiple companies and individuals.

The company said the cases involve the importation and distribution of unlicensed glueless flooring planks.

In 2007, the International Trade Commission issued a general exclusion order against flooring planks that infringe Unilin’s patented glueless technology.

However, Unilin said it noticed that certain importers succeeded in bypassing U.S. Customs efforts to stop the patent infringing products at the border and decided to take further legal action.

“The ITC’s General Exclusion Order of 2007 caused a tremendous drop in the importation of infringing flooring products into the U.S.,” says Bart Van der Stockt, managing director of Unilin’s IP business unit.

“Unilin however will continue to protect its licensees and their customers by taking further actions against the companies that illegally import products using our patented technology.”

Unilin said it has been using a L2C holographic label program to support its Chinese licensees.

The L2C program requires licensees to attach a unique holographic label to each box of licensed product.

Unilin said the label allows easy identification of unlicensed products.