Faus Responds to Pergo Suit

Dalton, GA, August 16-- Pergo, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Faus and its parent company earlier this month in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of North Carolina. Faus contends that Pergo’s claims are without merit, and Faus intends to defend itself against such claims vigorously and to assert substantial counterclaims against Pergo upon which Faus expects to prevail. The dispute between Faus and Pergo initially arose out of a disagreement over the termination of a contract pursuant to which Faus supplied laminate flooring to Pergo. When negotiations for a continuation of the contract broke down, Faus terminated the contract by written notice to Pergo. Months later, after negotiations for a new contract were unsuccessful, Pergo inexplicably claimed that the initial contract had not been terminated and persisted in that contention even after Faus provided evidence of timely delivery of the termination notice to Pergo. The parties agreed to resolve this and other resulting disputes through private mediation. After delaying the mediation process for several months, Pergo filed suit against Faus on August 6, 2004, based largely upon new allegations of infringement by Faus of copyrights applied for only weeks earlier while Pergo delayed the mediation process. Despite its own delays of the dispute resolution process, Pergo is now asking the court to drastically shorten the discovery period, short-circuit the litigation process, and conduct a final jury trial within four months. Faus does not expect this tactic to be successful, expects to expose Pergo’s claims as baseless, and expects to prevail upon its counterclaims.