Innovations4Flooring announces market share gains; describes Välinge’s US lawsuit announcement against its customer Halstead as an ‘act of desperation’

• Välinge claims are unsubstantiated and unrelated

WILLEMSTAD, CURAÇAO – Innovations4Flooring (I4F), a technology company providing flooring installation solutions, today announced that its number of licensees has doubled over the last twelve months to reach 25. I4F also spoke out against, what it describes as a ‘manipulative announcement’, made by Välinge on Tuesday, November 29, 2016.

“I4F’s innovative locking technologies are fast becoming the market standard and it’s no secret that Välinge is rapidly losing licensees to I4F. However, instead of bringing meaningful innovations to the industry, Välinge is exhibiting desperation and opting to manipulate the market in order to preserve its rapidly declining customer loyalty through baseless threats and scaremongering,” said John Rietveldt, CEO of I4F.

“This frivolous and unsubstantiated US lawsuit against one of its own customers is but another example of how Välinge is trying to “stamp out” freedom of choice in the flooring industry through legal intimidation.”

I4F’s initial legal evaluation of the case demonstrates that Välinge’s claims are counter to fact and law. They are far from clear as they do not provide any concrete details or proof as to how or why the product brands referred to infringe any of the US patents listed in its press release. Välinge’s announcement inaccurately names brands not represented by Halstead, as well as highlights patents completely unrelated to the allegedly infringing product brands. Furthermore, the US patent for a locking system on the long side is alleged as infringed even though Välinge knows the same patent’s European equivalent was recently nullified. I4F is also currently in legal proceedings to nullify the Dutch part of another Välinge European Patent – EP 1084317.

Halstead, I4F’s licensee and valuable partner, has itself a number of strong patent assets. These, in combination with I4F’s IP, create an independent position upon which to form the basis of Halstead’s new Isocore® product offering.

I4F is fully confident that its licensees and customers are protected against these claims, and will continue to do everything in its power to preserve freedom of choice for global flooring manufacturers.

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, “Our goal is to revolutionize the global flooring industry through freedom of choice and game changing innovations offered at a reasonable fee compared to the total manufacturing cost price of products. Threats and scaremongering will be fought off as quickly as they occurred.”

Contact:
Gilliane Palmer
+31 6 4189 9515
gilliane@innovations4flooring.com