European Patent Office Confirms Pergo’s Folddown Patent

Wielsbeke, Belgium, June 28, 2017-On June 23, the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office (EPO) confirmed the validity of Pergo’s folddown patent EP 2 009 195 B1, which relates to folddown systems in flooring panels.

The patent, which relates to technology developed by Pergo in 2000 and 2001, and which was granted by the EPO in April 2015, was subject to an invalidity challenge by a third-party patent firm before the EPO. The EPO decided, after going through all written and oral arguments, that the patent is new and inventive, and therefore found that the patent is valid as granted.

Pergo and the affiliated Unilin group license one-piece and two piece folddown systems to the flooring industry: Unifit, with a plastic insert, and Unipush , without a plastic insert.