Pergo® welcomes final determination in click-joint case in the U.S.
PERGO® WELCOMES FINAL DETERMINATION IN CLICK-JOINT CASE IN THE U.S. The Pergo Group has received a favorable final determination in the click-joint case from the U.S. International Trade Commission. On March 22, 2002, the United States International Trade Commission ("ITC"), issued a final determination in which it found that a Pergo laminate flooring product with a specific type of click-joint, and its installation instructions, do not infringe certain patents owned by Välinge Aluminium AB ("Välinge"). The Pergo product in question in the ITC case is a laminate flooring product with a glue-less click-joint licensed by the Belgian Unilin Group. The ITC's final determination affirmed the November 2, 2001 initial determination issued by an ITC Administrative Law Judge. The consequence of the decision is that Pergo may import into and sell in the U.S. the product, with the current installation instructions, with no restrictions. "As we always have maintained that our products and installation instructions do not infringe the Välinge patents, we are very pleased with the ruling," says Raimo Issal, CEO of the Pergo Group. The ITC instituted the case on December 29, 2000 based on a complaint filed by Alloc Inc., Berry Finance N.V. and Välinge. The six respondents included in the ITC final determination are Pergo Inc., Unilin Décor N.V., BHK of America, Inc., Meister-Leisten Schulte GmbH, Akzenta Paneele + Profile GmbH, and Roysol. Trelleborg March 25, 2002 Pergo AB (publ) Corporate Communications For additional information please contact Raimo Issal, CEO, phone number +46 410 36 31 00 Annette Kumlien, CFO, phone number +46 410 36 31 00 Lars von Kantzow, Sr Vice President North America, phone number +1 919 773 6000 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/03/25/20020325BIT00100/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/03/25/20020325BIT00100/wkr0002.pdf