Two Dallas companies named in patent infringement case

A Chicago company has filed a lawsuit claiming a consortium of homebuilders and home product manufacturers violated antitrust and patent laws and confidentiality agreements when they formed a Web site identical to a site established by the plaintiff.

The federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall names several nationally recognized homebuilders and home product manufacturers, including Dallas-based Centex Corp. and Lewisville-based Overhead Door Corp.

Other defendants include Builder Homesite Inc., a consortium of homebuilders and home product manufacturers; New Home Technologies; Beazer Homes USA Inc.; Capital Pacific Holdings Inc.; Capital Pacific Homes; Centex Real Estate Corp; Weekley Homes; KB Home; Lennar Corp.; Pulte Homes Inc.; Standard Pacific Corp.; Toll Brothers Inc.; Georgia-Pacific Corp.; Hearth & Home Technologies Inc.; Honeywell Inc.; Kohler Co.; Masco Corp.; Owens Corning; Progress Lighting Inc.; Square D Co.; Therma-Tru Corp.; Weyerhaeuser Co.; Whirlpool Corp.; and New York International Corp.

The suit filed by Chicago-based OLA Inc. alleges that its subsidiary, HomeBuilderShowroom.com, built a Web site called Builder’s On-Line Assistant back in 1999 to offer the home building and product manufacturing communities a place to showcase home upgrades and standard products online. It also was created, so homebuyers could make selections for their homes while participating in a virtual home tour online.

An attorney for OLA says the company applied for a patent in January 2000, but because of the length of the process, OLA did not receive official patents until 2006 and 2007.
OLA says early in the process, the company engaged interested homebuilders and home product manufacturers, who were part of a consortium that agreed to sign confidentiality agreements so they could try out and learn more about OLA’s Builder’s On-Line Assistant Web site.

OLA says despite some of the consortium’s main members signing confidentiality agreements, companies in the consortium later decided to build a comparable Web site called “Envision.” All of the manufacturers and homebuilders involved in the joint venture ended up associated with the business entity, Builder Homesite Inc., which also operates through subsidiary New Home Technologies Inc. Builder Homesite announced its formation in March 2000.

In a statement, OLA’s attorney Scott Clearman says, “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.”

Dallas-based Centex Homes and Lewisville-based Overhead Door Corp. said, as a matter of policy, the companies do not comment on pending litigation.

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Pre-owned home sales up 0.4%

Existing-home sales rose slightly in November, a hopeful sign of stabilization in the wake of mortgage disruptions earlier this year, according to the National Association of Realtors, which performed the study.

Across the nation, pre-home sales rose 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 5 million units, up a bit from the 4.98 million units sold in October 2007.

Still, the sales figures pale in comparison to the 6.25 million-unit level recorded in November 2006 -- representing a 20-percent drop.

"Near term, existing-home sales should continue to hover in a narrow range, just as they have since September," said NAR economist Lawrence Yun in a statement released Dec. 31. "And that's good news because it will be a further sign that the housing market is stabilizing."

Mortgage interest rates are near historic lows, and the most current data shows decelerating price declines, Yun said, along with a modest reduction in the number of homes on the market.

The national media existing-home price for all housing types was $210,200 in November 2007, down 3.3 percent from November 2006.
There remains a downward drag on the national median as the mix of closed sales has shifted away from expensive markets, Yun said.
"Just like the weather, there are large local variations in home prices," he said.
The total housing inventory declined 3.6 percent at the end of November 2007 to 4.27 million existing homes available for sale. This represents a 10.3-month supply. With inventory continuing at such a high level, additional pricing reductions may be required in some areas to induce buyers back into the market, Yun said.

NAR also said Congress could provide a spark in the housing market by taking steps to expand affordable financing.

"Raising the limis on conforming loans would significantly revive home sales," said Richard Gaylord, NAR president. "This would help creditworthy buyers in hard-hit regions like California and Florida by greatly increasing access to low-interest rate mortgages."

NAR represents more than 1.3 million real estate professionals.


This is very weird to me. The market has always gotten bad press and that real estate is bad. HMMMM, what does this mean? Maybe a change for the better here!