On the 28th of September 2021, Unilin Technologies successfully defended an opposition against its European Patent EP 3294969 B1 (“the '969 Patent”). The European Patent Office dismissed all arguments regarding novelty and inventive step of the opponent in a 9 hour oral hearing and decided that the ‘969 Patent was valid.
The '969 Patent is the result of Unilin’s pioneering R&D efforts of many years ago regarding coatings that protect the edges of HDF based floors such as laminate from water damage. The ‘969 Patent has a broad scope and covers specific laminate flooring with all types of edge treating technologies and has equivalent counterparts in the USA. The ‘969 Patent is complimentary to the other Unilin patents that protect several more specific edge treating agents and production methods.
Unilin and the Mohawk group are since many years successfully practicing one of the embodiments of the technology through its Hydroseal®, WetProtect® and Revwood® products. More recently, Unilin Technologies added the technology to its worldwide licensing program under the Unicoat® brand.
“We are very excited with this important patent victory”, states Benny Schacht, Unilin Technologies’ Patent & R&D Director. “We believe that the waterproof edge treating technology is a real game changer in the laminate flooring category, and we are pleased that our pioneering R&D efforts have been rewarded with a strong IP position. We are welcoming all companies to contact us if they want to benefit from a license on our Unicoat® technology or if they want to use their own coating solution that falls under our IP protection.”