The Ongoing Saga of Callaway and Acushnet… 1st Callaway Sues Alleging Infringement of 5 Patents… Then Acushnet Returns the Favor and Sues Alleging Infringement of 2 Patents and Asserting Invalidity… NOW Today Callaway Responds

As you may recall from a prior post, on June 8, 2007 Callaway filed a golf club patent infringement lawsuit alleging that Acushnet has willfully infringed 5 Callaway patents. Then, as discussed in a subsequent post, on July 12, 2007 Acushnet filed their Answer to the Complaint thereby (i) stating that Acushnet does not infringe the Callaway patents and alleging that the Callaway patents are invalid, and (ii) returning the favor by accusing Callaway of infringing two of Acushnet’s patents. Today, Callaway filed their response to Acushnet’s accusations (reproduced at the bottom of the post)… and guess what… Callaway states that they do not infringe the Acushnet patents and allege that the Acushnet patents (7041003 and 6960142) are invalid! Of course… never admit infringement and always assert that the other side’s patents are invalid. Par for the course……. I just hope this doesn’t push the price of drivers beyond the $500 mark!

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Don’t Putt Like This or You May Get Sued for Patent Infringement… Do You Need a Freedom-to-Practice Opinion before Changing Your Swing?

A patent on a method of holding a golf club… amazing! Mind blowing, isn’t it? No, not really… there are several patents on methods of holding and swinging golf clubs (usually
putters). For example, this week USPN 7261652 titled “Method of Holding a Putter and Putting a Golf Ball” issued. Check out
these figures from the patent…(figures)…
So how do you describe it in words… easy (kidding), just check out this claim from the patent:…(claim)… To check out other patented methods of swinging a golf club click here, here, here, here, or here, for just a few examples. With these patents in mind… go out in your backyard and make a few of these patented swings and then you will be able to tell your kids how “back in the day” you were a rebel, perhaps even an outlaw, with the way you blatantly infringed patents! (just kidding, I would never encourage or endorse patent infringement) I bet you would never have guessed that you would need a “freedom-to-practice” opinion from a patent lawyer just to try out a new putting stroke! See the PPS for my challenge to the professionals in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings…

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Review of the Seventh Episode of “Fore Inventors Only” on The Golf Channel – A Pleasant Surprise… America Gets to Vote on the Winner

The show begins with the following 10 finalists (out of over 1000 inventions):…(list)… Last week the president of GolfSmith was allowed to select one of the inventions for immunity. He selected the Club Glider travel bag to get his pass into the final five. The panel and the inventors then headed back to the studio to select the other 4 inventions that will advance to the next round. The panel, and Jim (the GolfSmith president), quickly ran through the remaining inventions in the following order…(list)… Guess what… Jim loved all of the inventions (in a very politically correct manner). All of the inventors were then brought back into the studio for another elimination. The field of 9 was then narrowed to the following 4 (plus the Club Glider)…(secret list)… What! How on earth did (xxxxxx) make it to the final five? It is… Next, Annika Sorenstam made a celebrity appearance and checked out the final five inventions. She was very polite and told each of the inventors how much she loved their products. Personally, I would have rather watched Charles Barkley try out the inventions… now that would be entertaining… Which invention do I think America will choose to win… either the…

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Yet Another Swing Training Device Patent… I Can’t Decide Whether it Would be Helpful, Hurtful, or Useless

This week yet another swing training device invention was granted a patent. I can’t tell if it would be helpful, hurtful, or neither. The patent is USPN 7261653 titled “Golf Swing Training Apparatus” and describes the invention as:… Check out this drawing of the device… I bet the great instructors like Harmon and Leadbetter secretly have a few of these in their garage(s)…

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The Easing of Golf Club Head Adjustability Requirements? I Can’t Wait to See What the Club Makers Come Up With… Plus a Look at Loft Adjustability

Did you catch this week’s Golf Digest article regarding rumors that the USGA and R&A will be officially adopting a previously proposed rule that would allow for greater club head adjustability? If not, check it out. The article got me thinking about the early innovators of
adjustable golf club heads. There are so many degrees of club head adjustability (loft, lie, shaft length, and on, and on, and on)
that I must limit this post to just one… loft. The USPTO conveniently places all the patents directed to loft
adjustability in a single class (473/245). I was surprised to find only 65 patents have been assigned to this class since 1790! The earliest patent directed to loft adjustability is USPN 569438, which issued in 1896. Check out these drawings from this patent…

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A Salute to Aerodynamic Genius in the Golf Industry; Part 1 – Why Not Let Air Pass Through the Club Head?

Ask most golfers about aerodynamics and they will immediately
start spouting off buzz words pertaining to golf balls… dimples,
drag, lift, etc…
Well, have you ever thought about the aerodynamics of your golf clubs? Fortunately there have been many inventors over the years that have been fixated on the aerodynamics of the golf club head. I would love to interview a golf club design engineer regarding the
significance, or lack thereof, of a golf club head’s aerodynamics.
I suspect that at Tiger’s swing speed it may have minor
significance, but virtually no significance for most golfers… but
that is just a hunch. While the idea makes some sense, if it were a truly great idea then one of the major manufacturers would have been all over it a long time ago. Part 1 of this series focuses on a handful of patents that disclose clubs which aim to channel airflow through the club head in a particular manner. Part 2 of the series will honor those inventors that think… “the only think missing from a golf club head is fins!”… Check out these clubs…

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Huge Antique Golf Club Auction and Exhibition in NYC

If you love golf history (and have a little extra money) then you may want to drop by NYC on September 27-28 for a huge auction. I refuse to promote the auction house because they make you buy
the auction catalogue just to see what is even up for auction (what kind of business plan is that… who knows, I might have bid on
something if I could actually see what is being auctioned). I will however promote the collection, it is that of Jeff Ellis,
the author of “The Clubmaker’s Art” (the best golf club book
set ever compiled). The collection includes more than 800 items and could easily be the type of collection that only changes hands once every 100 years, so get your checkbooks ready. The announcement in GolfWeek says that the auction will be preceded by an exhibition on September 20-26. That is one exhibition that I would love to attend…

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The Perfect Driver… Why Can’t I Find This Club?

This beauty of a golf club is disclosed in USPN D501,903 titled “Golf Club Head.”…(drawings)… Frankly, I was hoping to find a utility application listing the same inventor so that I could learn what was behind the accordion look. Perhaps, each layer has slightly different material properties for optimum deformation at impact with the ball? Maybe the design creates regions of engineered deformation? Perhaps both… Needless to say, I could not locate a related utility application (or patent), so we will never know the origins of the accordion design…

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Review of the Sixth Episode of “Fore Inventors Only” on The Golf Channel – Snooze…I Wish I Was Watching a Recording So That I Could Have Fast-Forwarded Through the Sales Training (i.e. the first 30 minutes)

The show is down to the following 10 finalists (out of over 1000
inventions):…(list)… Someone at The Golf Channel decided that watching the inventors refine their sales pitches would make interesting television. WRONG! …
I actually almost fell asleep. No kidding. This segment made me wish I were listening to judge Bill Harmon drone on about how great he is… Next, the finalists made a trip to the Orlando GolfSmith store… OK, at least it is starting to get interesting again… Now the real excitement… narrowing the 10 inventions down to 5! The twist… the president of GolfSmith was allowed to select one of the inventions for immunity. In other words, he got to select one invention to automatically make it into the final 5. So which one did he select… (the answer)…, which I am pretty sure would have made it to the next round anyway (but it is interesting to see which one the GolfSmith president really likes). If I had to choose the 4 additional inventions that would join the (secret) to move on to the final 5 (from the perspective of a GolfSmith salesman)… I would keep…

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Update… The Lawsuit Against Nike and Golf Club Designer Tom Stites is Dismissed Again… Court Chastises the Plaintiff Triple Tee Golf… A Lesson on Why to Run a Business Like a Business (formally)

As you may recall from the post back in April… At that time, the Fifth Circuit reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment that was originally in favor of Nike, Impact Golf Technologies, and Tom Stites. It looked like they might be in some hot water. The Fifth Circuit remanded the case back to the district court of the Northern District of Texas for further proceedings. Well, last week the district court judge dismissed all the claims, hopefully putting an end to this case. I have reproduced the 75+ page “Final Judgment” and the “Memorandum
Opinion and Order” below (with the good stuff in bold). Basically, the questionable actions and testimony of the Plaintiff Triple Tee Golf cost them a case that could have been worth many many millions of dollars. The Opinion and Order is fascinating reading, primarily because the judge ruthlessly picks apart the actions of the plaintiff. I encourage you to scan this entire post and definitely read the portions that I have bolded. After all, not very many Opinions contain sections titled “Inconsistencies and Implausibilities.”…

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Funny Stuff… Check Out This List of Weird Laws from Around the World

Ordinarily I try not to merely link to another website’s
articles, but this is worth it. The London Times recently published
this hysterical list of the world’s oddest laws. Check it out (especially if you are considering driving blindfolded in Alabama, own a fish in Ohio, are an unmarried woman that likes to parachute in Florida, own a concealed weapon that is longer than six feet in Kentucky, or have false teeth and live in Vermont). Enjoy…

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Another Metal Wood Design Patent… Recognize this Club?

The Golf-Patents blog has frequently tested your knowledge of
driver and wood designs in the past (here, here, here, and here). Well, here is another test… Recently a design patent issued on a fairly popular metal wood, however I suspect very few people will be able to identify the manufacturer of this club in light of the patenting strategy that was used. Do you recognize this club?

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The Golf Shaft Industry is Making a Move… The First Mention of True Temper

A prior post took a look at shaft related patents that issued in 2006. Needless to say it was a short post (very few shaft patents issued last year). This year is not shaping up to be much more active, but there has been some activity in the past month… Additionally, this week True Temper received its first patent in over 10 months. The True Temper patent that issued Tuesday is USPN 7255652 titled “Lightweight, Durable Golf Club
Shafts.” The patent describes the invention as… OK, that is nice… but it doesn’t really tell you anything about the legal scope of the invention. A quick review of the claims reveals that the patent is directed to…

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Review of the Fifth Episode of “Fore Inventors Only” on The Golf Channel – A Few Disappointments

38 inventions have advanced to the field testing stage… 18 are
field tested in this episode… 8 advance to an odd intermediary
stage… finally, 5 of the 18 are selected to go forward. The end
result… the 10 finalists. First, let’s look at a rundown of the 18
products that were field tested in this episode… After the “field testing,” the panel narrowed this episode’s field to the following 8 inventions… I can’t believe that “…” and the “…” didn’t at least make it to this stage. Next, the panel made a second cut to 5 inventions… I would only purchase one product out of these five…

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Can You Identify This Golf Club Head? Test Your Knowledge of Iron Designs

The Golf-Patents blog has tested your knowledge of iron club
head design in the past. Today, let’s see if you can identify another set of irons. For frequent readers of this blog, I rate the level of difficulty of this one as easy. Good luck….. The figure below comes from a US golf club iron head design patent that recently issued to a major producer of clubs. Can you identify the brand of irons?

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Can You Identify This Putter? Test Your Knowledge of Golf Putter Designs – The Hardest One Yet

Golf-Patents.com has repeatedly used putter design patents to test your knowledge of putter designs. If you can identify this one then you are a genius. I did not even know that they had a line of putters. The assignee does not even list any putters on their website and I could not locate this putter design anywhere online. The figure below comes from a US putter design patent that issued last week to a major producer of clubs. Can you identify the brand of putter?

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I Don’t Perform My Own Dentistry… “The Perfect Golf Tee” Patent Application Illustrates Why Most People Should Not Attempt to Draft Their Own Patent Applications

Not a week goes by in which I don’t receive a call from an
inventor that believes that filing a patent application is similar
to completing a driver’s license application (i.e. just a matter of
completing some forms). Such inventors are often disgusted and mad
that preparing a patent application is a lot of work, and therefore
not inexpensive. I frequently direct them to self-help legal books
on patent application drafting and tell them that if they read it
from cover-to-cover at least twice, and follow the directions
step-by-step, then they should be able to draft their own patent
application. This week a patent application published under the title “The Perfect Golf Tee.” The title alone peaked my interest. Unfortunately, the inventor decided to prepare the application himself and it will not result in a patent issuing (in other words he probably would have received more pleasure by flushing the $500 filing fee in cash down the toilet). Experienced inventors know…

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Aldila is Picking Up the Pace

You may recall a post from last month regarding Aldila’s first patent in 25 years. Since that post Aldila has had two patent applications publish. It looks like they may be getting more aggressive with their patenting strategy. The first published
application is US Pub. No. 20070173345 titled “Golf Club Shaft and Method of
Producing the Same.” Check out the following figure and description
from this published application……… The second published patent application is US Pub. No. 20070184914 titled “Method for Producing Golf Shafts of Like Flex.” Check out the following figure and description from this published application…

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Can You Identify This Putter? Test Your Knowledge of Golf Putter Designs

Golf-Patents.com has repeatedly used putter design patents to test your knowledge of putter designs. How good are you at identifying a particular brand of putter when
all the logos and trademarks are stripped off the club head? The
figure below comes from a US putter design patent that issued this
week to a major producer of clubs. Can you identify the brand of putter?

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Callaway Sues Taylor Made Twice In The Past 5 Days!

Readers of the Golf-Patents blog know that Callaway is not afraid of a knockdown drag-out patent infringement lawsuit. In the past few days they have once again demonstrated this… and appear to be making the statement “don’t mess with Callaway… no matter who you are!” First, on Saturday Callaway filed a patent infringement complaint in the “rocket docket” Eastern District of Texas alleging that Taylor Made has willfully infringed USPN 5704849 titled “Golf Club Head with Audible Vibration Attenuation.” Then, on Monday Callaway filed a patent infringement complaint in the Southern District of California alleging that Taylor Made has willfully …

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Only an Attorney Could State “Acushnet does not dispute that Nick Price is a popular and PERHAPS skilled professional golfer” (emphasis added)

What does 18 PGA Tour victories and over $20 million in PGA earnings get you? The comfort or knowing that even lawyers on the other side of the table can’t legitimately assert that you stink at golf. Congratulations. As I profiled several months ago (see post), on March 7, 2005 Bridgestone Sports Co Ltd sued Acushnet for golf ball patent infringement (1:05-cv-00132-JJF)…….. So what does all this have to do with Nick Price? Apparently Nick is starting yet another career… one as an expert witness for Bridgestone. Guess what… Acushnet is not happy about it, and understandably so… does Nick Price really understand the intricacies of golf ball construction, manufacturing, and patents? Acushnet does not think so. Below I have reproduced an Acushnet filing from the case in which Acushnet is trying to convince the court to exclude the testimony of Nick. I have underlined a few of the entertaining statements (enjoy). This is proof that you must have thick skin if you want to be an expert witness…

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Putter Alignment Features Gone Bad

Remember the beautiful simplicity of a Bulls Eye putter? Now looking at modern mallet putters, do you ever wonder if it is all necessary? How did we ever manage to putt with a Bulls Eye putter… (kidding, of course) Well, two recent putter design patents made me cringe. Looking at them you have to wonder if golfers are such idiots that we really need so much help figuring out where to hit the ball on the face and how to get the face aligned to the hole. Check out these putters….

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Would You Believe That Lee Trevino Is An Inventor On 5 Patents!

Lee Trevino is famous for being a great charismatic golfer that gave us plenty of memorable one-liners. A few of my favorite are:”If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.”… “You can talk to a fade but a hook won’t listen.” … “I’m in the woods so much I can tell you which plants are edible.” Did you know that Lee is also an inventor? In fact, he is listed as an inventor …

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Review of the Fourth Episode of “Fore Inventors Only” on The Golf Channel – The Start of Field Testing

38 inventions have advanced to the field testing stage… 20 are field tested in this episode… 8 advance to an odd intermediary stage… finally, 5 of the 20 are selected to go forward. Next week the remaining 18 will be field tested. Three former Big Break contestants performed the field tests (and frankly, I liked their evaluations of the inventions better than those of the panel of judges). First, let’s look at a rundown of the 20 products that were field tested in this episode……..

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