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As you may recall from a prior post, I created the “Fascinating IP of the Week” category to bring those oddly unique golf patents and published applications to the masses. You know the type… the ones that make you wonder whether the inventor is crazy or a genius. On March 6th a design patent issued titled “Golf Club Head and a Golf Club Head Striking Face” that fits perfectly in this category. The figures below say it all… Could the “stop sign” club face be the next hot golf …

The “IP Grab of the Week” award goes to Callaway for their golf ball patent application titled “Liquid-Filled Golf Ball With Preferential Internal Structures.” The application is absolutely fascinating and leaves one thinking “why didn’t I think of that?” The invention is described as: A golf ball having a spherical shell with a plurality of internal structures is disclosed herein. A fluid material is disposed within the spherical shell. The plurality of internal structures effect the spin decay of the golf ball. The application goes …

As you may recall, a recent post discussed USPN 7,186,190 that issued to Taylor Made Golf regarding their “r” series weighting system. Well, just one week later USPN 7,189,169 “Customizable Center-of-Gravity Golf Club Head” issued to Dogleg Right Corporation directed to another weighting system. There is no doubt that number of patents directed to customizing the CG location of golf club heads will continue to grow at an alarming pace. Manufacturers that haven’t jumped on the moveable weight patenting bandwagon are going …

Those in the golf industry know that the USGA recently announcement proposed golf equipment rule changes. One of the proposed changes has to do with regulations of the grooves in the face of a golf club striking surface. OK, that makes sense… we all know that the grooves have some impact on ball spin. The proposed rule change brings groove patenting to the forefront. Something I am sure that very few readers have ever considered. However, one thing is for sure – the major golf club designers have groove patenting on their minds. …

Design patents directed to golf balls are not very common. However, USPN D538,361 issued this week to Bridgestone Sports. It is the only golf ball design patent to issue in almost seven months (whereas several golf ball utility patents issue every week)…

Don’t believe the hype… Check out these square wood patents. One of the earliest square driver patents is disclosed in USPN D415,807, that issued October 26, 1999 to Frank Werner author of “How Golf Clubs Really Work and How to Optimize Their Design” and “Better Golf from New Research.” Frank also had a related utility patent issue on November 28, 2000 as USPN 6,152,833. Additionally, USPN 6,012,989 issued January 11, 2000. The following …

On March 6, 2007 Taylor Made Golf was awarded USPN 7,186,190 titled “Golf Club Head Having Movable Weights.” This is a big deal. In fact, Taylor Made values this niche so much that they filed 9 continuation patent applications on January 31st related to this patent. Does the following figure look familiar?

Approximately one month ago I posted an article regarding Karsten’s patent application, US Pub. No. 2007/0026964, titled “Golf Club Head with Dual Durometer Face Insert,” and the association with the PING G5i putter. Well, this week another application published that is also directed to the PING G5i putter. Today the application published as US Pub. No. 20070049395, titled “Golf Putter Head With A Visual Alignment Aid And An Increased Moment Of Inertia.” Click here and select “Craz-E B cavity” from the pull-down menu to see a product photo that is strikingly …

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 9th as USPN D534,977 titled “Scoreline Pattern for a Golf Club Head.” A figure from the patent is reproduced below…

Regular readers of this blog know that I believe design patents are underutilized in the golf industry, which is not to say that I don’t still believe that utility patents are king (as that is where the real IP “teeth” are). But design patents definitely have their place in an IP portfolio. Therefore, I like to highlight innovative uses of design patents in the golf industry…

“Test Your Knowledge” is becoming a recurring feature of Golf-Patents.com. In the last installment your knowledge of iron club head design was tested. Now let’s see how good are you at identifying a particular brand of golf putter when all the logos and trademarks are stripped off the putter? The figures below comes from a US design patent that issued this week to a major producer of clubs. Can you identify the brand of putter? You can click here for the answer, and click here …

The “IP Grab of the Week” award goes to Karsten Manufacturing (makers of PING golf equipment). This week Karsten’s application titled “Center-of-Gravity Shafted Golf Putter and Method of Making Same” published as US Pub. No. US2007/0042831. The application is short and easy to read. To summarize: Karsten seeks to obtain patent protection on putters configured such that the shaft terminates at the CG of the putter head. This application was selected as the “IP Grab of the Week” because it makes a bold aggressive grab attempting to obtain broad patent rights. …

Readers of this blog probably fancy themselves as knowing a little something about golf clubs, so this test should be a piece of cake. How good are you at identifying a particular brand of golf club when all the logos and trademarks are stripped off the club? The figure below comes from a US design patent that issued this week to a major producer of clubs. Can you identify the brand of clubs?…

Callaway Golf has had a good week… their players dominate the field on Sunday and they are awarded 2 golf ball patents and 1 golf club patent on Tuesday. Callaway was issued USPN 7,179,175 titled “Golf Club Having Stepped Grooves.” The ‘175 patent is definitely worth reading… it is short and it illustrates that broad patents issue to inventors that come up with inventions that are the first in their field. The figure below illustrates the “stepped groove” concept…

Today application serial number 11/498644 published as US Pub. No. US2007/0037635. As soon as I saw it I knew that it should be shared with the world. In fact, I had to create an entirely new category titled “Fascinated IP of the Week” just to find an appropriate home for this post (frankly, because I didn’t know if I was looking at the next great golf technology or something ridiculous – although I have a hunch). Check out this innovation below.

Hopeless romantics (as all golfers are) may enjoy reading Bridgestone’s patent USPN 7,018,308. The ‘308 patent discloses and claims heart shaped dimples.

This week’s Patent of the Week goes to SRI Sports (owners of the Srixon and Dunlop brands). SRI Sports was issued U.S. Patent No. 7,175,540 simply titled “Golf Putter” on February 13, 2007 (selected figures from which appear below). Regular readers of this blog will recognize that there has definitely been a recent increase in patents directed to varying the characteristics of the striking face of clubs. This patent is directed to a variable thickness elastic face insert for a putter. The face insert is made of an elastic material, such as a resin, that increases …

The 30 most recently issued design patents directed to golf shoes (non-cleat related) have issued to Acushnet (aka FootJoy). In fact, a golf shoe related design patent hasn’t issued to anyone other than Acushnet since October 2001. The most recent Acushnet golf shoe design patent is D533,706, a figure from which is reproduced below. Surprisingly very few utility patents have recently issued on golf shoe related inventions. In …

Golf fanatics will recognize Karsten’s patent application, US Pub. No. 2007/0026964, titled “Golf Club Head with Dual Durometer Face Insert” as being directed to the PING G5i putter. After reading this application and the prior art cited in the file wrapper’s IDS, I am convinced that Karsten performed a comprehensive “freedom to operate” search during development of…

U.S. Patent No. 7,169,057 titled “Hollow and Metal Iron Golf Club Heads” issued this week to MacGregor Golf.All club manufacturers should give the ‘057 patent a close read, especially those considering introducing a set of clubs having a harder striking face on long irons than on short irons (claim 15) OR having striking faces …

This week’s “IP Grab of the Week” award goes to Nelson Precision Casting’s US patent application titled “Golf Club Head,” US Pub. No. US2007/0026961. The invention is directed to a “recessed deformation portion” of the sole that has a variable material thickness to promote elastic deformation. The disclosed “recessed deformation portion” may be incorporated into woods, irons, and utility clubs…

How many times have you heard “keep you eye on the ball?” The designers at Optix Golf Company have invented a putter intended to help golfers be more aware of their head position during putting. The Optix Golf patent application published this week and is pretty interesting (although I must admit that I am not completely sold that it would improve my putting). The Abstract describes the invention as: …

This week’s “IP Grab of the Week” award goes to SRI Sports’ US patent application titled “Method of Designing Golf Club and Golf Club Head,” US Pub. No. US2007/0015601. The application appears to “grab” at the club head design optimization process. More specifically, the application “grabs” at the process of computationally determining a preferred location of a central reinforcing rib and a plurality of belt-shaped reinforcing ribs based upon Mises stresses.

Practice… why practice, I plan to invent a product that makes golf easy. Given the plethora of wacky golf tee patents, this line of thinking must be fairly common. However, it is probably a lot easier for the average golfer to achieve a sizable payday by inventing the next new hot golf product than it would be making it on the Tour. The USGA may have something to say about the legality of the following patented golf tees, but they are nonetheless very interesting. First, U.S. Patent No. 4,367,879 follows the simple principle of controlling …