As you may recall from a prior post, Callaway sued Acushnet for golf ball patent infringement back in February of 2006. The suit (1:06-cv-00091-SLR) alleges that Acushnet infringed 4 patents and has roots that extend all the way back to a previously settled 1996 lawsuit between Spalding and Acushnet. The case involves USPN's 6210293, 6503156, 6506130, and 6595873.

The case is still very active and a letter from Acushnet’s attorneys to the Judge (The Honorable Sue L. Robinson) on October 10th alleges that Callaway’s attorneys confidently misstated the law to the Judge during a September 28th oral hearing. The letter explains that that during oral arguments Callaway’s attorney, in an effort to support their arguments, promised the Court that “We have a case for that. Mr. {Name Omitted} will find it and I will just tell you what it is, but it’s a Federal Circuit case.” I can just imagine Acushnet’s attorneys grinning ear to ear when they heard that statement and looked over to make sure the court reporter caught it.
Apparently Acushnet advised the court at the oral argument that Callaway had incorrectly stated the law and promised to supply the Court with the appropriate case citations. Well, guess who supplied the Court with their citations first? Acushnet.

Now to be fair (and not spend hours researching the issue), I am sure that Callaway’s attorneys will file a similar document explaining why they were correct and why Acushnet’s attorneys are incorrect.

It will be interesting to see what the Judge has to say.

David Dawsey – The IP Golf Guy

PS – Shoot me an email if you would like to obtain a copy of the actual letter from Acushnet’s attorney to the Judge.