Finally, An Interesting Golf Shoe Utility Patent Application

Golfers rarely think about the advancements made in golf shoe technology, but boy would we ever if we were forced play a round in the shoes that we wore 20 years ago. I would not want to walk a round in my old leather soled Dexters with metal spikes. A good example of recent golf shoe technology advancements is found in a patent application that recently published as US Pub. No. 20070199211 titled “Flexible Foot-Support Structures and Products Containing Such Support Structures.” The application describes the invention as…….
Check out the following figures from the application……

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Golf Geeks Get Ready… There is Finally a Replacement for Your Combination Watch / Calculator, and It Tracks Which Clubs You Hit During Your Round…

How large is the market for golf geek products? Now, don’t get me wrong… I like tech toys as much as the next golfer, but I just can’t see myself wearing this product. Check out the product disclosed in the recently published patent application US Pub. No. 20070183262 titled “Golf Watch.” The application describes the invention as “[a] golf watch, which keeps time and allows a player to keep score of a person’s golf game and records the clubs that were used during that game.” Perhaps this product meets the needs of all the golfers that just loved their calculator watches. Wearing this watch would definitely make a statement…

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Finally, No More Having to Remember What Type of Golf Ball You Are Playing, Let Alone that Pesky Number… Forget About Having to Mark Your Golf Ball… Just Remember What it Smells Like

Is it just a matter of time before we see guys on Tour bending down to stick their nose into 8” long rough and sniff their golf balls to identify them? The inventors of the golf ball described in the recently published patent application US Pub. No. 20070219019 must think so. The application is titled “Odorant Golf Balls.” No kidding! See the PPS below for a full listing of the hundreds of various “odorants” listed in the patent application. Which scent would you choose? I think that I would go with banana nut bread, lemon pound cake, or pina colada. Check out this patent application! I smell a flop.

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Just What Every Golfer Needs, a Putter that Makes Putting More Difficult

A recently issued putter patent caught my attention because I scanned through the drawings and thought “it would be virtually impossible to putt with this putter.” The patent issued on September 4th as USPN 7264557 titled “Golf Putter with Concave Cylindrical or Spherical Striking Surface.” Check out a few of the drawings from this patent…..
What do you think; would this putter make the game easier or more difficult?
Additionally, what is the likelihood that the USGA would find this to be a non-conforming putter?

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Another Driving Range Invention With Special Application to ALL the Double Decker Driving Ranges in the United States

I would be interested in knowing the total number of double decker driving ranges in the United States. Could there be 100?
That reality did not prevent Si-Myung Kim of Seoul from filing a US patent application that recently published as US Pub. No. 20070178984 titled “Golf Ball Conveying Apparatus for Use on Driving Ranges.” Perhaps Si-Myung is forecasting a building boom. The patent application describes the invention as… Check out this figure of the invention… Finally, no more having to exhaust yourself by carrying those heavy baskets of balls! (kidding, or course)

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Hot New Golf Invention? “Waterproof Protective Overshoe for Golf Shoes”… Could They Ever Sell Enough of These to Cover the Cost of the Patent Application?

In my part of the country golfers rarely buy golf shoes unless they are waterproof. I am sure that this may not be the norm with golfers in Arizona, but would they buy dickies for their golf shoes? The inventors of the device in the recently published patent application US Pub. No. 20070175064 titled “Waterproof Protective Overshoe for Golf Shoes” obviously do believe that golfers will purchase such a product. The patent application describes the invention as… Check out this drawing. Would you wear these on the course?

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What Could Make Your Time at the Driving Range More Interesting? How About Universal Product Codes on the Balls and an Automated Scoring System

Put practicality aside for a minute and think of how much fun a driving range could be if it looked like the one drawn below. The drawing comes from USPN 5439224 titled “Driving Range with Automated Scoring System.” The patent describes the invention as… Check out these additional drawings… How difficult would it be to put UPC’s on golf balls?

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It’s All About the Dimples… Are Your Dimples Bilaterally Symmetric? Is a 344 Dimple Ball on the Horizon?

Last week Acushnet was granted an interesting golf ball dimple patent. The patent is USPN 7267624 titled “Golf Ball Dimple Pattern.” Perhaps the most interesting thing about the patent is that the “claims,” the legal scope of the patent, are limited to a 344 dimple ball. As far as I can tell, Acushnet does not sell a 344 dimple golf ball either under the Titleist brand or the Pinnacle brand. Makes you wonder if a 344 dimple golf ball is on the horizon? The abstract of the patent describes the invention as… (figure)…

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Recognize the Driver of this Golf Club Design Patent?

The Golf-Patents blog has tested your knowledge of driver and wood designs in the past (here, here, here, here, here, and here). Last week a design patent issued on a popular driver. Do you recognize this club?…(figures)… You can click here for the answer, and click here to check out USPN D550800 titled “Sole Plate for Golf Club Head,” which issued last week. PS – I like the design of this club so much that I have one in my bag.

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Golf Inventions Directed to Tracking Errant Golf Shots; Everything from a 1925 Spring-Wound Noise Generating Golf Ball to a 2007 GPS Golf Ball Location System

We have all played behind one of them… the golfer that just refuses to accept that they are not going to find their golf ball. Apparently these golfers that develop an unnatural attachment to their mass-produced golf balls have been around since the advent of the game (no surprise). Let’s take a look at some of the inventions that golfers have come up with to try to prevent that dreaded “lost ball.” One of the earliest inventions directed to a hard-to-lose golf ball is found in USPN 1620290 titled “Signal Ball” was filed in 1925! This “signal ball” includes a radial spring that is wound in a viscous material that causes the spring to slowly unwind while producing a “sharp and penetrating” sound. Check out the figures from the ‘290 patent below and think how that ball would feel when struck with a full-swing. Next…. Next…. Next…. The next great advance in preventing lost-balls is disclosed in USPN 4614340 titled “Smoke Emitting Game Ball,” which I refer to as the flying smoke-bomb (seen below). Fortunately the patent discloses that “[a] wire net between 100 and 10 mesh is interposed between the outer shell and the layer of the smoke emitting material to cover at least the apertures to thereby prevent hot molten mass of the combustion product from spilling out of the apertures.” Isn’t that a relief… you won’t get covered by the hot molten mass of the combustion product…. Next… Next…. Finally, the pinnacle of overly complex golf balls is described in USPN 7207902 titled “Method and Apparatus for Locating and Recording the Position of a Golf Ball During a Golf Game.” Check out the figure below. Isn’t the price of a dozen good golf balls high enough? …. I am going to go out on a limb here and offer $500 for a single golf ball that can tell me when the ball is in the mud, dirt, wet sand, dry sand, dry grass, wet grass, and water based upon the a sensed pressure value (and it must work for at least 9 holes)! ….

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Crazy Club of the Week; Is It a Driver or a Putter?

The Golf-Patents blog has profiled some bizarre clubs in the past (just look here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
None of the previously profiled clubs have anything on the club covered by US design patent D223767 titled “Golf Club Head or the Like.” Check out these figures….(drawings)…. So, is it a driver or a putter? (I am leaning toward a driver…)

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New Free Resource for Creating Clean (Advertisement Free) PDF’s of US Patents and Published Applications

Readers of the Golf-Patents blog know that the posts regularly link to nice PDF copies of the patents and published applications that are discussed. Linking to nice clean PDF versions of patents saves the readers from the hassle of going to the USPTO website to view the patent(s) under discussion. The great free website www.Pat2PDF.org has provided this capability in the past. Lately the service has become a little touch and go (probably because the amount of website traffic). To ensure that the readers of the Golf-Patents blog have reliable links to clean PDF files of the patents and applications under discussion, I decided to create a similar free resource. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that Gallagher and Dawsey has launched the PatentMarvel.com website. PatentMarvel is a free online patent tool for U.S. patent lawyers and inventors to create advertisement free clean PDF copies of U.S. patents and published applications… no strings attached. PatentMarvel will eventually include numerous tools developed by our patent lawyers to ease the lives of US patent attorneys, inventors, and intellectual property owners. Please give the PatentMarvel website a try…

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Golf Grass Patents Are Far and Few Between… A Post for the Golfer with a Green Thumb

Have you ever stood on a beautiful green and wondered whether the grass was patented? I hope not. If so, you need to find other ways to relax. Plant patents are relatively rare creatures. The USPTO website explains:….. I was surprised to learn that only 14 plant patents directed to golf course grasses (meaning the patent specifically mentions golf course applications) have issued since 2001! They include USPN’s PP18005, PP16801, PP14395, PP14130, PP13652, PP13294, PP13105, PP13100, PP13059, PP12910, PP12665, PP12625, PP12084, and PP11781. I encourage you to check a few of them out… especially if you have a green thumb. My personal favorite golf related plant patent is for a plant that is more likely to be found in your backyard than the local golf course. The patent is USPN PP15329 titled “Pittosporum plant named `Golf Ball`.” Check out this photo of the patented “Golf Ball” plant…

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There is No Shortage of Brain Power in the Golf Industry!

Don’t ever question the amount of R&D brain power that goes into bringing the latest and greatest golf clubs and golf balls to your local pro shop. Just check out recently issued USPN 7254492 titled “Method of Computing Energy Loss Generated in Viscoelastic Material and Method for Evaluating Energy Loss of Golf Ball by Using Method of Computing Energy Loss,” owned by SRI Sports Ltd (Srixon). The patent describes the invention as………. Wow… that is a mouthful (and who uses the word “momently”?). Check out these figures from the patent…

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What is Wrong with this Patent Drawing? (… what happens if your patent lawyer / drafter isn’t a golfer…)

How about a little humor to get you through the mid-week blues? The following drawing comes from USPN 6755345 titled “Golf Handicap Smart Card System.” Do you see something that is not quite right? (scroll way down in the post for hints)….(drawing)…. HINT #1….. HINT #2….. HINT #3….. Here is the enlarged view. Rather interesting!

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Everyone Has Heard of Hybrid Golf Clubs, but What About Hybrid Golf Balls

A golf ball patent recently issued under a title that got my attention… “Hybrid Composite Golf Ball and Method of Manufacturer.” The patent is USPN 7255655, which is assigned to Element 21. Sure, everyone wants that golf ball with the perfect feel… but, have you ever thought to yourself… “self… if only I could selectively mix flakes of varying metal alloys into the cover of my ball I would be able to tune my golf ball for just the right feel?” “Do I feel like my titanium alloys golf balls… perhaps the aluminum alloy ball would be more suited for today’s humid weather… better yet, why don’t I just use my old stand-by, the nickel based alloy golf balls.” I doubt that many people ever considered metal flakes as being the missing ingredient from the perfect golf ball……

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Get Your SkyCaddies by October 1st… Plaintiffs in Pending Patent Infringement Case Seek Preliminary Injunction!

OK, that title may be a little “alarmist.” But you never know… plus it got your attention (although my gut tells me not to worry too much about not being able to purchase a SkyCaddie after October 1st). As you may recall from this prior post, on May 11th GPS Industries and Optimal IP Holdings filed a patent infringement lawsuit against 10 defendants…….. The list of defendants reads like a Who’s Who of the golfing GPS world. The defendants include …. Defendant SkyHawke Technologies is the maker of the Natalie Gulbis endorsed SkyCaddie. It appears that the Plaintiffs have sized-up SkyHawke as the defendant with the deepest pockets, as the Plaintiffs have filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction (the Motion and the Support Brief are reproduced at the end of the post). The Plaintiffs argue that “[i]rreparable harm has resulted from the infringing conduct of Defendant to date and will continue unless Defendant is preliminarily enjoined from further distributing and marketing the Infringing Devices in the United States.”
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So, what is the point of a motion for a preliminary injunction? Generally, the real reason…. After all, there is always the risk that the court will decide to grant the injunction and tell the defendant to pull their products from the market. Now, there are a lot more politically correct reasons to attempt to obtain a preliminary injunction, many of which GPS Industries advanced in their Motion, including: “[p]reliminary injunctive relief serves the public interest by protecting Plaintiffs’ patent rights and upholding the patent laws against Defendant’s deliberate infringement.” The Court has given SkyHawke until October 1st to respond to the Motion and has granted SkyHawke permission to serve the Plaintiffs with a limited set of discovery requests. I encourage you to check out the patent, as well as the selected portions of the filings reproduced below. The filings give the outside observer a look at the nasty side of the golf industry…

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TaylorMade Responds to Callaway’s Texas and California Lawsuits

As you may recall from a prior post, in early August Callaway filed two patent infringement lawsuits against TaylorMade. Callaway filed one patent infringement complaint in the “rocket docket” Eastern District of Texas alleging that TaylorMade has willfully infringed USPN 5704849 titled “Golf Club Head with Audible Vibration Attenuation.” While Callaway filed the second patent infringement suit in the Southern District of California alleging that TaylorMade has willfully infringed a couple of Callaway’s golf ball patents (USPN’s 6638185 and 7160207), and also alleging that four of TaylorMade’s patents (USPN’s 6547678, 6991558, 7197575, and 6719644) are invalid.
On Tuesday TaylorMade filed their responses in the two cases (reproduced below for your reading enjoyment).
It should be no surprise that TaylorMade responded with counterclaims alleging that Callaway has indeed infringed USPN’s 6547678, 6719644, 6991558, and 7197575, and alleging the unenforceability, invalidity, and/or noninfringement of Callaway’s USPN’s 5704849, 6638185, and 7160207.
OK, we already knew that all those patents would be at issue, but TaylorMade took an additional stab at Callaway and has alleged unenforceability, invalidity, and noninfringement of two additional Callaway patents; namely USPNs 5409229 and 5605511 both titled “Golf Club Head with Audible Vibration Attenuation.”
Looks like this may turn into a huge battle…

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The First Mention of This Club Manufacturer on the Golf-Patents Blog… Can You Identify These Irons? Two Challenges in One Post!

It is hard to believe that this club maker has not been previously mentioned in a post. In the past this particular manufacturer did not seem to be big on golf club design patents, however they may be turning over a new leaf… they have had 3 club head design patents issue in the past 5 weeks. The figure below comes from a US golf club iron head design patent that issued on Tuesday to a major producer of clubs. Can you identify the brand of irons?….. A few weeks prior the same manufacturer received a design patent on this design…. Can you identify the club maker?

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Review of the Final Episode of “Fore Inventors Only” on The Golf Channel – Good Show, Ridiculous Results

The final episode began with 5 finalists… the Club Glider travel bag, the Club Caddie club stand, the ProPlay GPS portable swing video recorder and software, Z-Factor Perfect Putting Machine, and the HillShot Golf uneven lie practice platform. Last week I predicted that the winner would be either the ProPlay GPS portable swing video recorder system or the Club Glider travel bag. So let’s see if I was right…
Back to the competition… the elimination process began. The first invention eliminated was the … What a surprise, I would have bet that … The second invention eliminated was the … Come on… now I am starting to think that the voting is fixed. Is America telling us that the (A) and the (B) are better inventions than (C) and (D)? Please! The third invention eliminated was the … Now this is ridiculous… the best 3 inventions are the first 3 eliminated…What is America thinking? (maybe a joke)…
And the winner is… Absolutely amazing. Mindblowing……
I never thought I would say this, but the show would have been better off with Bill, Stina, and Fulton selecting the winner…

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The IP Golf Guy Joined CJ and Ryan of Tee Time Radio for to a Discussion of the Final Five Inventions of the “Fore Inventors Only” Show

I was fortunate to be a guest on the Saturday September 1st episode of the Tee Time Radio program. CJ, Ryan, and I discussed some of the inventions from The Golf Channel’s “Fore Inventors Only” program. Needless to say, the Tee Time Radio interview was prior to last night’s “Fore Inventors Only” season finale, and my prediction as to which invention would win was a shank. However, I do believe that most golfers would agree that the best invention did not win. Click here to listen…

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The IP Golf Guy Goes International – OK, That May be Stretching It, But I was Interviewed by the UK’s “Pods and Blogs” Radio Show on BBC Radio 5 Live

A recent Golf-Patents.com post was picked up by a UK intellectual property blog, which got the attention of the hosts of the UK’s “Pods and Blogs” radio show. Isn’t the Internet amazing! The “Pods and Blogs” radio show is described as: The week’s news as seen by bloggers, podcasters and citizen journalists. Every Tuesday, as part of the Up All Night programme, BBC Radio 5 Live takes a look at world events from the perspective of the online community.
I would hardly consider the Golf-Patents blog as covering “world events,” but fortunately the hosts of “Pods and Blogs” are golfers! Thus, yesterday I was honored to be a guest on the “Pods and Blogs” radio show. Click here to listen.

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A Look at Lie Adjustability

Last week Golf-Patents features a post on loft adjustability, therefore I figured that this week a look at lie adjustability was in order. As with loft adjustability, the USPTO conveniently places all the patents directed to lie adjustability in a single class (473/248). I was surprised to find only 77 patents have been assigned to this class since 1790 (some of which I would not consider to be primarily directed to lie adjustability)! The earliest patent directed to lie adjustability is USPN 1535707, which issued in 1925. Check out these drawings from this patent…(figures)… I would not want to hit anything other than a putt with that club! Now, on the opposite end of the spectrum… the most recent patent in this class that I consider directed to lie adjustability is USPN 6857969, which issued to Acushnet on February 22, 2005. The ‘969 patent describes the invention as:…(description)… Check out this figure from the ‘969 patent:…(drawing)… It should be fun watching the “adjustability” explosion. I wonder what clubs will look like, and be capable of, in ten years?

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Club Head Adjustability Patents… Did the Club Manufacturers Predict the Recently Proposed USGA Rule Changes Years in Advance?

Yes! That is the answer to the question “did the club manufacturers predict the recently proposed USGA rule changes years in advance?” Well, at least Acushnet and Karsten (PING) did. (see this post for background information). Just this week another PING patent issued related to adjustability. The patent is USPN 7261642 titled “Method for Tuning a Golf Club Head with a Variably Dampened Face.” This patent is related to USPN 7192363 titled “Golf Club Head with a Variably Dampened Face,” which was discussed in detail in this March posting. Frankly, when I reviewed the ‘363 patent back in March I thought it seemed very odd… now it seems virtually genius (maybe not the technology… but the strategy). I suspect that…

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