The word already existed as the scientific name for wood ants, from which formic acid and the derivative formaldehyde compound used in the resin were first isolated.

Formica laminate was invented in 1912 by Daniel J. O'Conor and Herbert A. Faber, while they were working at Westinghouse, resulting in a patent filing on 1 February 1913.

[3] O'Conor and Faber originally conceived it as a substitute for mica used as electrical insulation, made of wrapped woven fabric coated with Bakelite thermosetting resin, then slit lengthwise, flattened, and cured in a press.

Immediately afterwards, O'Conor and Faber left Westinghouse to establish a business based on the product, enlisting lawyer and banker John G. Tomlin as an investor.

It resisted heat, abrasion and moisture better than phenolic or urea resins and could be used to make more colors; soon after, the Formica Corporation was buying the entire output of melamine from American Cyanamid.

Through a settlement agreement in 1964, American Cyanamid was required to sell its melamine plant at Willow Island, West Virginia.

Historically, trademarks owned by other corporations which had become generic words, such as "shredded wheat", were no longer the exclusive property of their originators.

[10][11] In 2018, Fletcher Building announced plans to sell Formica to Broadview Holdings (parent of Trespa) for NZD $1.226 billion (US$840 m);[12] the sale was finalised the following year.