International Trade Commission Confirms Unilin's ITC Ruling
On September 16, 2020, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) confirmed the Initial Determination of the May 15, 2020 rendered by ITC Judge Shaw. All asserted Unilin patents were again considered valid and infringed, and a General Exclusion Order was issued to prevent all importation of PVC based products falling under the Unilin patents without license or other permission.
Such a general exclusion order means that US customs will actively monitor incoming shipments of flooring products to check whether patent infringing products are indeed produced and sold under a license of such Unilin patents. The L2C holographic label program, outlined on www.L2Clabels.com, will be an important tool for Unilin IP and US customs to stop the illegal importation of patent infringing products.
“We are of course very happy with this ruling of the US Commission”, stated Bart Van der Stockt of Unilin’s IP division. “This confirmation did not come as a surprise given the strength of Unilin’s patents and prior well-reasoned decision from Judge Shaw in the Initial Determination in May of this year. But it is of course always good to receive this important news since it again demonstrates Unilin’s leading IP position in the flooring business. We continue to support all our licensed partners in the best possible way, and as such do whatever it takes to act against manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers who are not respecting our intellectual property rights."