Before delving into the latest filing and disclosing my prediction, a quick summary of the past few months in the Callaway v. Titleist (Acushnet) saga is in order. Back in December a jury found that 8 of the 9 claims in the 4 patents-in-suit were valid, and therefore infringed by Acushnet (click HERE to read the post on the verdict). Then, in mid-January Callaway filed a Motion for Permanent Injunction (click HERE to read the related post) seeking to bring a halt to the production and sale of ProV1’s. Next, Acushnet responded to Callaway’s motion at the end of February (click HERE to read the related post). NOW, Callaway has filed their “reply” in support of the motion for permanent injunction leaving the motion “fully briefed” and ready for action by the court. Pretty exciting!

Readers can view the complete redacted version of Callaway’s “Reply in Support of Callaway Golf Company’s Motion for Permanent Injunction” HERE. The “reply” should be fascinating reading for most golfers.

I have to admit that prior to reading this “reply” my gut feeling was that there was a 10 percent chance, at best, that some form of an injunction would be granted. However, I am starting to feel that I underestimated the likelihood of an injunction. I still believe that the likelihood of an injunction is significantly less than 50 percent, but Callaway’s filings have done an excellent job of convincing me that they might actually have a shot. However, given the state of the reexamination of the patents-in-suit, I think it would be premature for the court to issue a permanent injunction. Thus, if an injunction issues I will play nothing but Callaway balls for at least one year (and I lose a lot of golf balls).  

David Dawsey  – The IP Golf Guy