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Teragren Fine Bamboo Flooring, Panels & Veneer Secures Exclusive Rights to Stand Bamboo Patents

  • All Strand Bamboo Products Manufactured, Sold in U.S., Mexico Fall Under Patents; Must Now Meet Company’s Stringent Quality Standards

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. – June 22, 2006

Teragren (www.teragren.com), the nation’s leading manufacturer of environmentally-friendly bamboo flooring, panels and veneer, today announced that it has secured exclusive rights to two patents for popular strand bamboo products.

As a result of the new exclusive licensing agreement, all strand bamboo sales in the U.S. and Mexico, including flooring, flooring accessories and panels, will now be subject to Teragren’s rights in the patents.  While traditional bamboo flooring and panel products may not have patent protection and because there is little industry oversight, there are wide variations in the range of quality.

“All Teragren bamboo products—including flooring, panels and veneer—meet stringent quality standards. However, the increasing supply of sub-quality bamboo products is damaging to consumers and the industry,” said Teragren President and CEO David Knight.

“Acquiring exclusive rights to these patents allows us to control the quality of all strand bamboo products, including strand bamboo flooring. Ultimately, this will benefit consumers and the bamboo products industry overall,” continued Knight.

Strand bamboo is manufactured through a process that fuses together bamboo strands with an environmentally safe adhesive into various bamboo products, including flooring and flooring accessories. Teragren’s expansive product line of beautiful, durable and renewable bamboo includes Synergy strand bamboo flooring, which is 18 percent harder than Santos mahogany and 100 percent harder than red oak.

Teragren’s strand bamboo factory partner in China owns a similar non-U.S. patent.  Consequently, the manufacturing and sales of all Teragren’s strand bamboo products will be covered by patents in the U.S., China and Mexico. All strand bamboo products sold through alternate sources such as discounters, importers or Asian trading houses are covered by Teragren’s patents. 

“We intend to enforce our patent rights and are currently working out the details,” said Knight. “Ultimately, strand bamboo flooring will only be sold under Teragren’s Synergy brand through our top tier network of retail floor covering dealers and wholesale distributors.”

Teragren will also use its patents to develop and sell a number of new products, such as outdoor decking, structural bamboo (trusses and joists) and other building products. “As more and more consumers, and the industry, look for environmentally friendly products, we expect the demand for bamboo building products to continue to grow,” said Knight.

In addition to Synergy strand bamboo flooring, the company also manufactures complete lines of traditional bamboo flooring: Signature Naturals (Natural & Caramelized) and Signature Colors (Espresso, Walnut, Cherry & Charcoal) Solid Strip Bamboo Flooring; Studio Wide Plank Floating Floor with TeraLoc; Craftsman Bamboo Wide Plank Flooring, and matching bamboo Stair Components and Flooring Accessories.  In addition, the Company manufactures many styles of bamboo Panels and Veneer for the furniture and cabinet industries.

About Teragren

In 1994, Teragren (www.teragren.com) pioneered the bamboo flooring, panel and veneer industry in the United States. The company is recognized as a category leader by the architectural and design communities as well as major floor covering distributors and retailers, and panel and veneer distributors. All Teragren bamboo products contribute to certification under the LEED® (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) rating system. The company owns exclusive rights to two strand bamboo patents in the U.S. (Patent # 5,543,197) and Mexico (Patent # 204281).

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