ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,311,686, issued on May 27, was assigned to Unilin BV (Wielsbeke, Belgium) and AGFA NV (Mortsel, Belgium).
"Methods for manufacturing panels having a decorative surface" was invented by Benjamin Clement (Waregem, Belgium), Laurent Meersseman (Kortrijk, Belgium), Patrick Van Den Bergen (Hove, Belgium) and Rudi Vanhooydonck (Zwijndrecht, Belgium).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method is provided for manufacturing a paper layer having a printed pattern for use in panels that at least include a substrate and a top layer. The top layer includes the paper layer. The method may involve providing the paper layer with an inkjet receiver coating b...