The Clearman Law Firm Announces Patent Infringement, Fraud Lawsuit Against Nation's Largest Homebuilders and Home Products Manuf
August 21 2008 - 10:01AM
PR Newswire (US)
Pulte, Lennar, David Weekley Homes, Honeywell, Whirlpool, others
named as defendants MARSHALL, Texas, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ --
Attorneys from Houston's The Clearman Law Firm are announcing a
federal lawsuit filed late yesterday on behalf of the owner of
HomeBuilderShowroom.com against a group of nationally recognized
homebuilders and home products manufacturers. The 72-page petition
alleges the defendants committed trade secret theft, fraud, patent
infringement and violated antitrust laws and confidentiality
agreements in order to build a competing Web-based business.
According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Texas in Marshall, the owners of
HomeBuilderShowroom.com invented the "Builder's On-Line Assistant"
in 1999. The revolutionary service was created as a means of using
the Internet to connect homebuilders, manufacturers and homebuyers.
The company's design allowed builders to offer standards and
upgrades for homes as well as the opportunity for homebuyers to
make their purchasing decisions online using virtual showrooms. The
owner of HomeBuilderShowroom.com -- OLA, LLC, a privately held
company based in Chicago -- applied to patent the processes
associated with "Builder's On-Line Assistant" in January 2000, and
received two related patents in 2006 and 2007. The lawsuit alleges
that, prior to securing the patents, OLA reached confidentiality
agreements with several of the defendants before providing a
demonstration of "Builder's On-Line Assistant." Relying on the
confidentiality agreements, the petition continues, OLA revealed
details about its methods and service after receiving positive
responses from several homebuilders and manufacturers. However,
according to the complaint, the defendants declined to purchase the
service offered by OLA, and instead formed a new company that began
marketing a nearly identical service in 2005 called "Envision." The
Austin, Texas-based company formed by the homebuilders and home
products manufacturers -- Builder Homesite Inc. -- claims on its
Web site that the "Envision" service has increased homebuilders'
profits by $2,000 to $5,000 per home on more than 150,000 homes
thus far. The same language is included on the Web site for New
Home Technologies Inc., a Builder Homesite subsidiary. Attorney
Scott Clearman, lead counsel for OLA and founder of The Clearman
Law Firm, says his client took every precaution to protect its
valuable idea only to see it replicated in violation of the
company's patents and agreements. "The defendants obviously saw the
benefit in OLA's idea, but they apparently didn't think they needed
the company's permission to use its patents or to honor their
confidentiality agreements," Mr. Clearman says. "It's hard for me
to believe that these huge companies didn't know what they were
doing when they basically copied our client's process verbatim and
collaborated to market it themselves." In addition to Mr. Clearman,
OLA also is represented by Brian D. Walsh of The Clearman Law Firm
and Matthew J.M. Prebeg, Edward W. Goldstein and Holly H. Barnes of
Houston's Goldstein, Faucett & Prebeg. Notable homebuilders
named as defendants in the lawsuit include Atlanta-based Beazer
Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH), Newport Beach, Calif.-based Capital
Pacific Holdings, Inc., Dallas-based Centex Real Estate Corp.,
Houston-based Weekley Homes, L.P. d/b/a David Weekley Homes, Los
Angeles-based KB Home (NYSE:KBH), Miami-based Lennar Corporation
(NYSE:LEN), Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte Homes, Inc.
(NYSE:PHM), Irvine, Calif.-based Standard Pacific Corp. (NYSE:SPF)
and Horsham, Penn.-based Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL). Also named
as defendants are home products manufacturers Atlanta-based
Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Lakeville, Minn.-based Hearth &
Home Technologies, Inc., Morristown, N.J.-based Honeywell
International Inc. (NYSE:HON), Kohler, Wisc.-based Kohler Co.,
Taylor, Mich.-based Masco Corporation (NYSE:MAS), Lewisville,
Texas-based Overhead Door Corporation, Toledo, Ohio-based Owens
Corning (NYSE:OC), Greenville, S.C.-based Progress Lighting Inc.,
Palatine, Ill.-based Square D Company, Maumee, Ohio-based
Therma-Tru Corp., Federal Way, Wash.-based Weyerhaeuser Company
(NYSE:WY), Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool Corporation
(NYSE:WHR) and York, Penn.-based York International Corporation. A
copy of the lawsuit and more information about The Clearman Law
Firm is available at http://www.clearmanlaw.com/. For more
information or to schedule an interview with Mr. Clearman, please
contact Bruce Vincent at 800-559-4534 or . DATASOURCE: The Clearman
Law Firm CONTACT: Bruce Vincent, 1-800-559-4534, , for The Clearman
Law Firm Web site: http://www.clearmanlaw.com/
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