Golf Club Design Patents – Innovative Use for Score Line Designs

Continuing my series on “Innovative Uses of Golf Club Design Patents,” today we look at score lines (aka the decorative lines on the face of a driver that mimic grooves). Most people (even many patent attorneys) would never think of applying for design patent protection on the configuration of the score lines on the face of a driver.

My research indicates that Karsten Manufacturing (aka PING) invented the strategy of protecting score patterns. The most recent design patent directed to score lines issued to Callaway Golf on January 9^th as USPN D534,977 titled “Scoreline Pattern for a Golf Club Head.” A figure from the patent is reproduced below.