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RALEIGH - Two of the Triangles top residential builders are feuding in federal court over town house trade secrets.
Westfield Homes is accusing rival Centex Homes of deception, alleging that Centex copied the "Freedom Collection," a line of three town house designs that won Westfield best-selling honors in the Triangle in 2000 and 2002.
The 16-foot-wide floor plans were created for Westfield by Raleigh's Cline Design Associates, an architectural firm led by Gary Cline.
Westfield says Centex duped the company into sharing key information about the town houses including an electronic version of the footprint - by offering Westfield a chance to buy land and build at Camden Park, a Centex community off Ebenezer Church Road in Raleigh.
Centex took the offer off the table in August 2002, and by February 2003 began marketing its own narrow-width townhouses at Camden Park claims the lawsuit Centex said in its filings with the U.S. District Court in Raleigh that it...