U.S. customs seizes patent infringing laminate

PRESS RELEASE: [Dallas, Texas] United States Customs officials continue to seize and destroy containers of laminate flooring that are using Unilin’s patented click technology without authorization. Very recently, multiple containers of laminate flooring manufactured by the company Changzhou Century Wind were seized and destroyed.

In 2007, Unilin obtained a General Exclusion Order from the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) by which products utilizing Unilin’s click patent portfolio without authorization would be blocked from entry into the U.S., and in certain circumstances seized and destroyed.

In 2012, Unilin introduced the holographic L2C label program which facilitated the distinction between licensed and non-licensed products. Unilin also recorded its L2C trademark with U.S. Customs by which U.S. Customs would be able to seize products bearing a counterfeit holographic L2C label.

In March 2014, Unilin filed several patent litigation actions in Los Angeles against importers that imported unlicensed products, despite several warning from Unilin’s legal department that such imports were illegal. A lot of the companies that were sued in these actions have already dissolved, but Unilin is continuing the cases against the individuals who were the driving forces behind such companies.

Unilin’s IP business team is present at Domotex Shanghai and welcoming all manufacturers, importers and retailers of click flooring planks, who have questions regarding the legal and patent implications of their business, to stop by the Unilin/Flooring Industries booth to discuss (Hall E5, Stand C20).


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