Chinese flooring manufacturers lose 337 investigation

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) made a final determination on its Section 337 investigation of 38 flooring companies from multiple countries, ruling these companies in violation of the patent protecting glueless laminate flooring panels.

The patent is owned by the Unilin Beheer B.V., the Netherlands and its twosubsidiaries, Flooring Industries Ltd. in the Republic of Ireland and Uninlin Flooring N.C. LLC in the US. In line with the final ruling, a general exclusion order was granted, requiring US Customs to restrict the import of such products.

Eighteen Chinese laminate flooring manufacturers were investigated by the ITC. According to the final ruling, these companies are restricted from exporting any flooring panels unless they pay USD100,000 to USD120,000 in royalties and USD0.65 in royalties per cubic meter to the owner of the patent. If the manufacturers do not comply with this measure, China’s flooring manufacturers will not be allowed to export their glueless laminate flooring.

ITTO Newsletter January 2009 - News from China

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