OLA LLC and Homebuilders, Manufacturers and their Consortiums, New Home Technologies and Builder HomeSite Settle Patent Related Lawsuit

CHICAGO, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- OLA, LLC (www.OLAllc.com), owner of HomeBuildersShowroom.com, today announced that it has resolved its patent-related lawsuit against New Home Technologies LLC (NHT) and Builder HomeSite Inc. (BHI), a pair of consortiums founded and owned by many of the nation's largest homebuilders and building product manufacturers, as well as many of the manufacturers and big builders themselves.  The lawsuit against NHT, BHI, and a number of consortium founders concerned OLA's patents and trade secrets.

The lawsuit was resolved on mutually agreeable terms and New Home Technologies has received a limited, non-exclusive license under the OLA patents.  

OLA and its Internet businesses, including www.HomeBuilderShowroom.com, were founded by Bruce Fogelson, an award winning Chicago homebuilder and inventor of the U.S. patents named "Builders On Line Assistant." The OLA patents include methods for connecting builders, manufacturers, suppliers and prospective homebuyers using the Internet.  The HomeBuilderShowroom.com web site invited builders to allow many buyers and builders to make their standard and upgrade selections online using virtual showrooms that also connected them with national manufacturers and local suppliers.  This unified supply-and-demand chain and configuration system was advanced both for its time and the homebuilding industry.

"OLA looks forward to working with the industry to make this technology widely available to builders and buyers," said W. Robert Gold, Esq., Chicago counsel to OLA. "We look forward to seeing the benefits of this innovation for the overall building industry and the public."

OLA is represented by lead counsel Scott M. Clearman of The Clearman Law Firm PLLC of Houston, as well as other local counsel and its Chicago legal team, which includes Wigoda & Wigoda and Husch Blackwell Sanders Welsh & Katz LLP.  The lawsuit was first announced in August 2008 and additional information is available at www.ClearmanLaw.com.  

OLA (www.OLAllc.com) is a privately held company in Chicago that holds the two U.S. patents named "Builders On Line Assistant" with other patent applications pending. The OLA patents, www.HomeBuilderShowroom.com and other Showroom related Web sites are the brainchild of inventor Bruce Fogelson, a Chicago builder-developer and owner of Paramount Homes (www.ParamountHomes.com) as well as his other varied business interests.  Fogelson has other pending patents and intellectual property, both in the building industry, and others, such as AdBookOnLine.com (www.AdBookOnLine.com) for not-for-profits.  Fogelson consults on Transportation Oriented Development (www.TransportationOrientedDevelopment.com) also known as, "TOD."  He is also a founding member of the Chicago chapter of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago and his company, Paramount Homes, has received 14 "Good Neighbor" awards from the Chicago Association of Realtors and other commendations in many aspects of the building industry.  

Parties to the lawsuit, OLA LLC v. Builders Homesite, Inc., et al, were: Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH); Centex Corporation and Centex Real Estate Group; (David) Weekley Homes L.P.; KB Home (NYSE: KBH) and E.KB Inc.; Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) and Lennar.com Inc.; Pulte Homes Inc. (NYSE: PHM) and Pulte.com Inc.; Standard Pacific Corp. (NYSE: SPF); Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL); Georgia-Pacific Corporation; Hearth & Home Technologies Inc.; Honeywell Inc. (NYSE: HON); Kohler Co.; Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS); Overhead Door Corporation; Owens-Corning (NYSE: OC); Progress Lighting; Square D Company; Therma-Tru Corp.; Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY); Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR); and York International Corporation, Builder Homesite Inc. (BHI) and New Home Technologies (NHT).

The Builder On Line Assistant (www.BuilderOnLineAssistant.com) Patents, US #7,076,455 B1 and Patent US #7,254,553 B2, were filed in 2000 and 2001 and issued in 2006 and 2007 and should run past 2020.

SOURCE OLA, LLC