The Ryder Cup® , Intellectual Property, and the IP Ryder Cup

The history of the Ryder Cup® is long and full of great stories, as explained on the official website of the Ryder Cup. Some golfers contend that it is the only remaining professional golf event that remains true to the purity of the game. In fact, it may be the only time of the year that you can view professional golfers when they, as well as their gear, are not walking billboards for their sponsors; which can make them hard to recognize!

This year the European team faces the American team at The Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales. Since this is an article about intellectual property and not the golf skills of Ryder Cup competitors, let’s take a look at the intellectual property skills of the competitors via an “IP Ryder Cup” competition.

First, to avoid a one-sided domination by the American team we need to only focus on the top 8 qualifiers for each team. Why, you ask? Because Tiger Woods and his associated companies have more trademark registrations than the combined total of all trademark applications, trademark registrations, patent applications, and patents of the entire remaining field!

Therefore, eliminating Tiger Woods, Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson and Rickie Fowler from the competition levels the playing. Unfortunately, in doing so, the American team loses credit for a pending US trademark application (serial no. 85083786) associated with Zach Johnson’s foundation.

Eliminating the European team’s three Captain’s picks (Padraig Harrington, Edoardo Molinari, and Luke Donald) and the ninth place points finisher (Peter Hanson) also deals a blow to the European team, but not nearly the blow suffered by the American team in losing Tiger’s IP. The blow to the European team comes from the fact that Padraig Harrington has two pending US trademark applications and three CTM registrations, all directed to his name as a word mark and variations of a design mark.

The IP Ryder Cup American team now consists of Phil Michelson, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton, and Matt Kuchar; and the IP Ryder Cup European team now consists of Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Ross Fisher, Francesco Molinari, and Miguel Angel Jimenez. The “IP Ryder Cup” matches are established based upon the Ryder Cup Points List, and are as follows:

Five of the eight matches can be called a draw right from the start because the competitors have failed to formally seek protection covering their intellectual property (talk about a shank). The examples of poor IP play include the matches of Hunter Mahan v. Rory McIlroy; Jim Furyk v. Graeme McDowell; Dustin Johnson v. Ross Fisher; Jeff Overton v. Francesco Molinari; and Matt Kuchar v. Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Thus, the IP Ryder Cup boils down to three matches, namely, Mickelson v. Westwood, Bubba Watson v. Marin Kaymer, and Stricker v. Poulter.

The first match isn’t even close as Mickelson blows Westwood away. Westwood came to play with nothing in the IP department, whereas Mickelson has been granted 2 US design patents and has 2 US trademark registrations. The first match leaves the American team 1 up.

The second match pits Bubba Watson against Martin Kaymer, both players with some experience in the IP arena. First we have Bubba who had a deal with the retailer Steve & Barry’s® to introduce a BubbaGolf™ collection of high-quality, low-priced golf and casual apparel. Unfortunately for Bubba, the BUBBAGOLF mark was owned by the parent company of Steve & Barry’s rather than Bubba himself. Steve and Barry’s then went bankrupt, and the application was abandoned. Some accuse Bubba of poor golf course management, and this may be true regarding IP as well. Conversely, Martin Kaymer seems to be on top of his IP game and has both a US and CTM registration directed to his name associated with everything from perfume and cosmetics to clothing and golf equipment. The second match clearly goes to Kaymer, bringing the match to all-square.

The final tie-breaking match includes Steve Stricker and Ian Poulter. Poulter came to play with both US and CTM registrations for his Ian Poulter Designs logo, while Stricker came with no clubs (i.e. IP) in his bag. While Poulter doesn’t show the IP acumen of Mickelson and Kaymer, both of whom protected their names as pure word marks, he takes the win and brings the “IP Ryder Cup” back to Europe. Hopefully 2012 will see more competitors bringing IP portfolios to the matches!