CBP Rules ITC Exclusion Order Doesn't Cover Interlocking Floor Panels by Innovation

An International Trade Commission general exclusion order (GEO) on laminated floor panels doesn't prevent imports of several products by Innovations 4 Flooring Holding, CBP said in a Jan. 10 ruling (here). The GEO, issued in Section 337 investigation number 337-TA-545, directed CBP "to exclude laminated floor panels, regardless of the identity of their manufacturer or importer of record, that are covered by the relevant patent claims," CBP said. Innovations' products use interlocking methods that aren't covered by the patents at issue, CBP said.

Innovations asked CBP to rule on two types of interlocking panels and whether the GEO applies. The first type is a “3L TripleLock,” that uses a "drop-lock system for the short side that eliminates the need for additional plastic inserts,” according to the company. "The 3L TripleLock is found not to infringe" on multiple patent claims "because it does not exhibit a 'tongue,' as construed, and therefore does not primarily provide horizontal coupling and vertical locking," CBP said.

The other type is a “Click4U” system, which the company described as “an angle-system for the long side combined with 3L TripleLock on the short side.” This system also doesn't infringe because the patents at issue "require an elastically bendable portion on the lower lip of the groove that has a relaxed, unbent position, and that when coupled with another coupling part is slightly bent,” CBP said. An engineering drawing of the Click4U locking profile shows "the lower lip is not bent out of its normal relaxed position," the agency said. The profile also shows no "clearances" are formed when two panels are coupled, CBP said.

Also, the Click4U panels require "coupling by rotation," CBP said. "Innovations’ floor panels are not subject to the 545 GEO because certain limitations required by the relevant claims of the listed patents are not met," CBP ruled. "Accordingly, the panels are admissible into the United States and may make entry for consumption, entry for consumption from a foreign-trade zone, and withdrawal from a warehouse for consumption."