ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 13 -- United States Patent no. 12,523,047, issued on Jan. 13, was assigned to Unilin BV (Wielsbeke, Belgium).
"Floor element" was invented by Jan De Rick (Geraardsbergen, Belgium).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A floor element for forming a floor covering. The floor element has a support layer which is provided with coupling elements on at least a first pair of opposite sides. The coupling elements on the first pair of opposite sides are in the form of a tongue extending along a length of the first edge and a groove extending along a length of the second edge. The tongue is provided with a first locking surface and the groove is provided with a second locking surface, the...