Pergo AB parent company Pleiderer Aktiengesellschaft, which purchased the laminate maker earlier this year, said it has launched an Intellectual Property Business Unit to manage Pergo’s intellectual assets. This includes more than 450 granted patents and pending patents, 300 registered trademarks and trademark applications, and an extensive list of copyrights and designs, according to the company. Pergo locking systems, its embossed in register texturing and end block matching and 4in1 molding technologies are also protected.

“Pergo has for too long been a slumbering giant in the intellectual property field; this will all change now,” said Frida Rosenholm, Pergo’s general counsel and head of the newly created Intellectual Property unit. “For the first time in Pergo’s history we have a pronounced, aggressive intellectual property strategy and owners that are willing to invest in the utilization and enforcement of the intellectual property portfolio.

“It will no longer be possible to utilize Pergo’s pioneering innovations without paying royalties to Pergo,” Rosenholm added.

A pioneer in the development of laminate flooring,  Pergo launched its product in Europe during the 1980s and began selling its products in the US in 1994 and in Asia the following year. The company’s products have been marketed under the Pergo brand since 1989 and under the SimpleSolutions brand since 2005.