Artist wants to scratch pact.

• Position: Triad

Despite a marriage that has produced the most successful furniture line ever, artist Bob Timberlake and Lexington Home Brands just can't get along. Their often-stormy relationship (cover story, May) has taken another bad turn, with what amounts to a petition for divorce sitting in North Carolina Business Court in Greensboro. The issue this time: whether the manufacturer is doing enough to tout The World of Bob Timberlake furniture.

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For years, they fought over where to make the line, which has sold more than $1 billion since its introduction in 1990. Thomasville-based Lexington holds the license and wanted to offshore production, but Timberlake insisted that it be made in the United States. They reached an uneasy peace in March 2006 after a team of investors opened Linwood Furniture Inc. in a former Lexington plant. The group included Dan Timberlake, son of the artist and chief operating officer of Bob Timberlake Inc. Linwood manufactures Timberlake's furniture under contract to Lexington.

Since Linwood started, Dan Timberlake says, Lexington has failed to promote the line. In June, Bob Timberlake Inc. filed a...