Unlin’s Uniclic Patent Upheld by European Patent O

Wielsbeke, Belgium, March 27, 2006--On March 22, 2006 the Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office confirmed the validity of Unilin’s European patent EP 0 843 763 with certain modifications. This decision can not be appealed. EP 0 843 763 now protects glueless systems that are free of play and made in a wood-composite core, having a longer lower lip with inclined contact surfaces, where the lower lip is not longer than one time the thickness of the panel and that can be snapped together. This patent is the cornerstone of Unilin’s patent family. It is Unilin’s first European Patent and it protects specifically the Uniclic-system. It is together with Unilin’s EP 1 024 234 (the “snap patent”), EP 1 026 341 (the “pretension patent”), EP 1 223 267 (the “clearances patent”) and the 103 other granted members of this patent family the basis for Unilin’s patent protection. The pending cases based on this patent EP 763 against Berry Floor in Belgium (Gent) and against Akzenta in Germany (Hamburg) will now be reactivated.