Innovations4Flooring signs strategic partnership agreement with Ulrich Windmöller Consulting (UWC)

• John Rietveldt appointed as Managing Director of UWC
• UWC terminates exclusivity agreement with Unilin
• UWC begins licensing its IP directly in Europe and the US

DOMOTEX, HANNOVER, GERMANY – Innovations4Flooring (I4F), a company providing patents and technologies to the flooring industry, today announced that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Ulrich Windmöller Consulting (UWC).  UWC owns all the patent rights for Windmöller Plastic Core Patents in Europe (EP1938963, EP2744657) and is also co-owner of the Windmöller Patents Rights in the US (US 8,071,193; US 8,857,127; US 8,728,603) together with Kowon R&C Corporation. Windmöller also owns the patent rights for US 8,689,513.  These patent rights cover products produced containing a plastic core, including LVT and WPC.

With immediate effect, UWC will offer licenses for the Windmöller Patent Rights directly in Europe and US.   UWC has notified Unilin about the termination of their agreement relating to certain Windmöller Patent Rights.   UWC and I4F also announced that John Rietveldt becomes Managing Director of UWC in addition to his role as I4F’s CEO and Managing Director of Classen IP and Kowon.

The partnership with UWC follows I4F’s agreements with Classen, Kowon and Kronospan representing yet another step forward in I4F’s strategy to provide the flooring industry access to innovative, stronger, value creating and more open IP.

Ulrich Windmöller, Founder and owner of UWC, says, “We believe this new partnership with I4F will generate more value for our Windmöller patent portfolio worldwide and open up new collaborative development opportunities for innovation in the PVC product category.  I4F has proven itself to be a leading expert in patent portfolio management and we are looking forward to a fresh and exciting new era working together with them.”

Commenting on the new agreement, John Rietveldt adds, “2017 has been a breakthrough year for I4F!  We have gained the respect of the world’s best flooring companies and created partnerships with the industry’s most important IP players. This strategy continues in 2018 and has already gained significant momentum with an extended agreement with Classen as well as a new partnership with Kronospan and now also one with UWC.   Today’s announcement is a strong affirmation that we are delivering on our promise to revolutionize the global flooring industry through game changing innovation and now, more than ever, we are leading the development of accessible flooring technology worldwide.”