ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,331,528, issued on June 17, was assigned to UNILIN BV (Wielsbeke, Belgium).
"Floor panel for forming a floor covering" was invented by Jan Eddy De Rick (Geraardsbergen, Belgium) and Pieter Devos (Koolskamp, Belgium).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A floor panel for forming a floor covering, wherein the floor covering consists of floor panels, which, on at least one pair of edges, are provided with coupling parts. The coupling parts substantially are manufactured from the material of the floor panel, and the coupling parts are configured such that two such floor panels, at the pair of edges, can be installed and locked to each other by mean...