Callaway Golf vs Acushnet Golf Ball Patent Dispute Settled?

"We are very pleased with today's decision which will stop the sale of these infringing Pro V1 golf balls,” Callaway Golf’s Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, Steve McCracken said.

Pro V1 golf balls will be allowed to be used until the end of 2008. The United States District Court in Wilmington, Delaware ruled for a permanent injunction effective no later than Jan. 1 granting Callaway Golf's request to halt sales of Acushnet Co.’s Pro V1 golf balls and overruled Acushnet's request to overturn the jury's verdict last December 2007 regarding the validity of Callaway Golf’s four patents and Acushnet's Titleist Pro V1 golf balls.

Going back, Callaway Golf sued the Titleist Pro V1 line of golf balls manufactured by Acushnet Company, which was introduced in 2000, in June 2007 over golf ball patent dispute. Titleist Pro V1 is based on more than 70 of Acushnet own patents, Acushnet argued. However, Callaway insisted that its patents resulted "in performance that had previously eluded the industry and revolutionized the game."

Acushnet, a division of Deerfield, Ill.-based Fortune Brands Inc., announced that it will file an appeal regarding the Court's ruling saying the golf balls are outside the patents in question due to the converted production of the these balls. The company’s executive vice president, corporate and legal Joe Nauman firmly believed that the ruling will have no adverse impact on Acushnet's ability to supply Pro V1 to its customers. He further stated that the golf ball in question have been under “converted production” last September2008. The existing Pro V1 models are definitely “outside of the patents in question,” he added. Their unwavering expectation in having all their claims of the four patents in question underlies on the fact that “the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued final office actions which have determined these patents to be invalid." He also announced that there will be new and improved Titleist Pro V1 products in the first quarter of 2009 which are all out of the patents question.

Callaway Golf Company (Callaway Golf) based in Carlsbad, California specializes in golf and the manufacture of golf equipment, woods, irons, wedges, putters, golf balls, apparel, footwear, timepieces and accessories. Their market products are the Odyssey putter brand which was acquired in 1997, the Top-Flite, Strata and Ben Hogan golf brands.

Acushnet Company, an operating company of Fortune Brands is a golf equipment manufacturer whose primary brands major golf brands are Titleist, FootJoy, Scotty Cameron, Cobra and Pinnacle.