NOMA filed suit against the competition, but was offered a settle-
ment out of court, giving Otis a similar royalty offer to the one he was
getting from NOMA. However, Otis refused the offer, the case went
on to court, and was lost. Otis lost all royalties and no doubt was upset
more than once after that, because the bubble light soon came to be the
hottest item on the market, lasting for a period of at least two decades.
Thus, other companies opened the market for a huge burst of bubble
lights. The year 1949 was important in NOMA histoty. NOMA reissued
their famous “biscuit” style lights in the slightly modernized box (a little
girl staring in wonderment at the bubbling light had changed her dress
from a 1940s style blue outfit to a much more fashionable and attractive
solid green dress). That year, one of their bubble light sets was brought
into controversy after a Christmas tree fire, that involved a fatality, was
directly connected to the bubble lights. After this, a fire-retardant chemi-
cal was used in their plastic and that fact was indicated from then on by
means of identification on the box itself. However, this chemical causes
premature breakdown of the plastic. Collectors will recognize this fact
when they discover shrunken and severely distorted plastic bottoms, of-
ten with a whitish coating that many novice collectors attribute to spray
snow or heat damage. Fortunately NOMA was cleared of their involve-
ment in the Christmas fire fatality, and they ceased the use of this fire
retardant chemical in their plastic bases.