Although the German Patent Office completely revoked the Unilin utility model, the decision is open to appeal.
This utility model covered floor panels with mechanical locking elements integrated in one piece with the core of the panels made of MDF/HDF and installed by a horizontal snap-action.
Alloc and the claimants relied on the Välinge patent application from 1994 on glueless installation systems for floor panels and a more recent Japanese patent application as most important prior art. Alloc successfully argued that there was no inventive step in Unilin's utility model, based on the Välinge and Japanese applications.