Innovations4Flooring wins European Patent Office case against Unilin

• Strength of 3L TripleLock patent EP2440724 once again confirmed
• EPO rejects all oppositions from Unilin in full favour of I4F’s patent

Innovations4Flooring (I4F), a technology company providing flooring installation solutions, today announced that it has won a European Patent Office (EPO) opposition case against the Unilin group. The validity of I4F’s 3L TripleLock EP2440724 was confirmed by the EPO’s opposition division, and all oppositions filed by Unilin on the patent were rejected. This means that licensees of I4F’s 3L Triple Lock patent have an extensive scope of protection across Europe.

I4F’s 3L TripleLock one piece drop-lock technology has patents granted in most countries worldwide and multiple additional patent applications pending. The European Patent Office (EPO) granted another new European divisional* for 3L TripleLock, EP2719845, expanding the total scope of its protection in Europe and providing licensees with additional legal certainty of its innovative character. No oppositions were ever made against this patent by the competition demonstrating the solidity of 3L TripleLock’s patent architecture.

I4F’s technology is already being used on millions of square meters of different types of flooring, including laminate, wood, luxury vinyl tiles, Rigid Core Flooring (RCF) and Multi-Layer Flooring (MLF). I4F is the original creator and provider of a truly innovative one piece drop-lock solution, protected by a sound international patent portfolio, based on a threefold locking mechanism, suitable for laminate, LVT, wooden flooring panels as well as RCF and MLF.

John Rietveldt, CEO of Innovations4Flooring said, “This latest victory is yet another example of how Unilin’s market behavior is based more on threats than on facts.   The EPO’s decision is yet further reinforcement of our patent’s strength and its added value for our licensees. They have rock-solid protection to use 3L TripleLock across Europe and are free to choose which system they, and their customers, prefer. This is another leap forward on our path to revolutionize the global flooring industry through freedom of choice and game changing innovations.”

Contact:
Gilliane Palmer  – gilliane@innovations4flooring.com

Note to editors:
* A European divisional is a patent application which is based on the same subject-matter as its ‘parent’ patent (in this case 3L TripleLock EP’ 724), while the invention is defined in differently formulated claims.