Do You Know the Shape of the Inside of Your Golf Shafts?

Frankly, I had never even considered the shape of the inside of a golf club shaft until today. Naturally, the inside of a shaft must be round, right? Not true. This week an interesting patent application published that is directed specifically to non-circular bores of a golf shaft. The application published as USPN 20090215550 titled “Matrix Composite Golf Club Shaft and Mandrel” and describes the invention as….

Read more

Dial-In the Perfect Putter with Acushnet’s New Rotary Dial Putter; Innovative or Gimmicky?

This week Acushnet had an interesting putter patent application publish. Check out this design…. The application published as US Pub. No. 20090215551 titled “Weight Adjusting Structure Of Golf Club Head” and describes the invention as…. I am torn and can’t decide whether it would be fun to play with or if it is a tad too gimmicky…..

Read more

Are Your Shafts Retaining Austenite? Poor Things

Golf shaft technology is as interesting as any golf technology. In fact, I suspect the popularity of golf shaft technology will grow each week as major tournament broadcasts increase the number of slow motion SwingVision videos showing the gyrations of a shaft as a Tour player hacks their ball out of deep rough. This week the Nippon Shaft Company was granted an interesting golf shaft patent. The patent is USPN 7578750 titled “Golf Shaft, Golf Club, and Production Method for Golf Shaft” and explains….. Got that? Time to brush up on your metallurgy! It seems that golf shaft patenting is picking up…..

Read more

I Can’t Identify These Irons, Can You?

I didn’t say “new” irons in the title because I always assume that when I can’t recognize irons it must be because they are a junior, or ladies, set. Plus, whenever I even suggest that something might be “new” someone will undoubtedly email me and point out that they are in fact not new, but rather that there have been at least 2 prototype sets bouncing around on tour for at least a couple of weeks! But heck, dealing with overzealous golfers is half the fun of having this blog.
Well, even after some poking around I can’t identify this iron design as a junior, or ladies, set. Thus, I suppose it is possible that this is a first look at something new (but I have my doubts, and I am sure the readers will confirm these doubts). Nonetheless, check out this iron design….. It appears that the design has a face insert, which generally implies a multi-material, or premium, club. Do you recognize it?…..

Read more

Another Golf Ball Patent Hoping to Eliminate Lost Golf Balls

Readers of the Golf-Patents blog know that I love inventions intended to reduce the number of lost golf balls… primarily because I can’t help asking myself the question… “how many golf balls would this device have to prevent me from losing just to pay for itself?” Not to mention, what would it do to a billion dollar industry that lives on the fact that golfers lose a lot of golf balls. Check out the following past posts on the subject to give you a flavor for what inventors have come up with in the past to eliminate lost golf balls…. Today a patent issued on the subject that actually seems a little more feasible than most of the prior attempts. The patent issued as USPN 7578603 titled “Acoustic Wave Induced Light Emitting Golf Ball” and describes the invention as….. How about the profile of that zero loft hybrid!
….. Interesting, but I would still need to see one work to believe it…..

Read more

More PING Groove Ideas

There has been no shortage of interesting groove inventions lately. For instance, HERE is a post regarding Acushnet grooves, HERE is a post regarding Karsten Manufacturing (aka PING) grooves, and HERE is a post regarding Bridgestone grooves. This week another Karsten patent application published related to grooves. The application published as US Pub. No. 20090209361 titled “Golf Club Heads with Grooves and Methods of Manufacture.” The following figures illustrates the concept nicely….

Read more

Cleveland Golf Is No Stranger to Protecting Their Brand; Now They Go After Clone Maker King Sports

Regular readers of the Golf-Patents blog know that Cleveland Golf is not adverse to litigation; just check out my recent posts “Cleveland Golf’s Mystery Shopper Reveals Alleged Counterfeiters and Results in IP Infringement Lawsuit” and “Cleveland Golf Cracks Down on Unauthorized Online Sales.” This week they have decided to take on clone golf club maker King Sports, the alleged owners of turbopowerusa.net and kingsports.org. However, King Sports is also no stranger to litigation; check out my prior posts regarding battles with Nike (here and here) and Callaway (here and here). Here are some of the interesting allegations from the Cleveland v. King Sports lawsuit…..

Read more

US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: “Irreconcilably Inconsistent Jury Verdicts” Results in Remand for a New Trial Regarding the Original ProV1 Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Judges make it to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) because they are legal scholars and excellent writers. Thus, I would be cheating you if I tried to chop up their Decision into sound bites. Please read and enjoy the actual Decision in PDF form HERE….. Well, a new trial would be a nice economic stimulus package for everyone except the shareholders of Callaway and Fortune Brands! Perhaps I can go cover the new trial live for The Golf Channel; nah, I have a face for the radio…..

Read more

Cleveland Golf’s Mystery Shopper Reveals Alleged Counterfeiters and Results in IP Infringement Lawsuit

Cleveland Golf sure seems to do a good job monitoring online sales of their products to ensure they are real Cleveland clubs sold in an authorized manner. You may recall a previous post titled “Cleveland Golf Cracks Down on Unauthorized Online Sales.” Yesterday Cleveland continued to demonstrate their market awareness and filed a lawsuit against the operators of the website “CopyCatClubs” for allegedly selling a counterfeit Cleveland® HiBore® driver, Cleveland® CG14® Black Pearl wedge, Cleveland® CG10® wedge, Cleveland® CG12® wedge, and Cleveland® 588® wedge to one of Cleveland Golf’s “mystery shoppers.” What a job! How do you get a “mystery shopper” gig? I have included some of the more interesting parts of the Complaint below….

Read more

Can You Identify This Fairway Wood? I Could Not

Today a design patent issued on a fairway wood that I did not recognize and I immediately thought that I had uncovered something great. Unfortunately, not so. Is your knowledge of fairway woods better than mine? Can you identify the model of this club (not just the manufacturer)?….. Click HERE for the answer. I always fall for that rookie gender-related mistake. Nice looking club, but obviously I could never play one. The drawings come from USPN D598062 titled “Wood-Type Golf Club Head.”….

Read more

Acushnet Weighs in on Groove Designs

Recently I have posted about some interesting groove patent applications by Karsten Manufacturing (aka PING) and Bridgestone. Well, don’t count Acushnet out, as they had an interesting groove patent issue this week. The patent is USPN 7568983 titled “Golf Club Head Groove Configuration.”…. Are you curious as to whose patent application discloses grooves that Acushnet believes to be “poorly engineered?” The Acushnet patent is referring to the grooves disclosed in….

Read more

Bridgestone’s Take on Grooves, and it is Similar to PING’s Take on Grooves

Back in January I authored a post titled “Grooves of the Future?” in which an interesting patent application by Karsten Manufacturing (aka PING) was examined. Check it out if you aren’t familiar with it because it provides some context to the groove designs disclosed in this post. Today Bridgestone had a patent application publish addressing the same issues. The application published as US Pub. No. 20090197700 titled “Golf Club Head,” and explains the invention as…. It is amazing how over 8000 miles can separate golf club designers and yet they can develop, and claim, such similar inventions; although it looks like PING beat Bridgestone to the punch (a July 5, 2007 priority date compared to a January 31, 2008 priority date)! I guess the Golf-Patents blog doesn’t have a large following in Chichibu-shi, Japan.

Read more

Ever Struggle to Get the Second Strap of Your Carry Bag Over Your Shoulder (of course you do, who doesn’t)? Well an Ogio Golf Bag Invention may be the Solution

Familiar with that fish out of water feeling when trying to get your left arm through that second carry strap? (and how it typically occurs when a cute beer cart girl is driving past) Well, Ogio recently received a patent on a device that may eliminate the fish out of water feeling and the odd glances of passersby as it appears that you are practicing your swimming stroke or swinging at flies…..

Read more
Advertisment ad adsense adlogger