Dallas—On Nov. 20, the Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) confirmed the validity of Pergo’s EP 1 304 427, after hearing the invalidity arguments of several opponents. This patent, which protects a one-piece fold-down locking of wood fiber flooring planks, has a priority date of February 1999 and was already confirmed to be valid in the first instance by the Opposition Board of the EPO on March 15, 2012.
This final decision from the EPO confirms Pergo’s strong patent position regarding the fold-down locking technology. Pergo currently has more than 80 granted patents worldwide, covering several aspects of the fold-down technology, and an additional 30 divisional applications should be granted in the near future. Several of these patents and patent applications enjoy a broad scope of protection seeing the early priority date.