Välinge is introducing a new L2C (License to Clic) label design as well as a fourth L2C yellow label to be applied on boxes sold outside the U.S. Properly labelled products will not be subject to the consequences of the general exclusion order recommended by the Administrative Law Judge in charge of the pending ITC proceeding.
Adopted in 2012 in order to achieve fair competition, prevent patent infringement and to avoid non-licensed flooring products from reaching the market, the L2C Label Program has over the years proven to successfully achieve its objective, according to the company.
Licensed partners with manufacturing plants in certain regions will attach a unique holographic label on each box of products that are manufactured and sold under license from Välinge. Products that leave these factories not appropriately labelled are considered to be unlicensed and infringing. Accordingly, licensees and other actors trading with unlabeled products may be found to infringe Välinge’s patent rights as well as other third party’s patent rights included in a license from Välinge.
In order to further improve the effectiveness of the program, a fourth L2C yellow label is being introduced, to be applied on boxes sold outside the U.S. (i.e. not in Europe, NAFTA, Australia, New Zealand or China). Henceforth, green labels will be applied on boxes sold on the European market only.
Available from July 2020, the use of the new yellow labels is to be implemented prior to September 30, 2020. After the implementation period has expired, yellow labels will be applied to all relevant products manufactured to be sold outside the U.S.
Välinge said it is also modifying the design of all L2C labels to display the Välinge logotype. As for the use of blue, green and purple labels with the new design, there is no specific implementation period and Välinge said it will start to distribute these labels gradually during 2020.