One thing I did read which made me smile was the recent war between Callaway and Titleist over patent infringement. It seems that the Titleist Pro V1, the number 1 ball in golf©, got to where it is with a little help with Callaway, or rather Spalding who Callaway bought in 2003 for a cool $125m. Apparently those nasty men at Titleist used technologies originally dreamt up by Spalding years earlier. Or did they?
According to Titleist, Callaway are talking out of their arse. Yes, the Pro V1’s apparently used these technologies but Titleist claim they had already patented them years before and Spalding shouldn’t have been allowed to put their name to them. Unfortunately for Titleist the case went to court and they lost but they are screaming because evidence that the original Spalding patents were invalid wasn’t heard.
As you can imagine the guys at Titleist were not best pleased at the ruling, especially as they were ordered to stop selling the offending Pro V1’s after 1st January 2009. Hmmm, the number 1 ball in golf© becoming extinct in the New Year? Erm, not quite. While the trial was going on Titleist redesigned the Pro V1 so it didn’t infringe on any patents and will continue to sell their tournament winning balls for the foreseeable future.
The new balls will be distinguished from the old balls by a sticker on the packaging but Titleist claim there is no loss of performance between the old and the new. All this is academic though because the ban is only in the USA and the ball is due for an upgrade any minute now as Titleist bring out a slightly improved ball every two years and plan to release a new one early next year.
So what is the outcome? Titleist are appealing a ruling that prevents them from selling a ball that they no longer sell because of patent infringements on patents they claim they already own that have been bought up by another company that don’t actually use them! That’s right, Callaway don’t even use the patents! Heh heh heh, you couldn't make it up!.
The Chairman and CEO of Acushnet (Titleist’s parent company I think), Wally Uihlein issued a snotty FAQ regarding the case to the media to clear up the issue and generally give their slant on events. Callaway went one better after running the following add:
All good stuff I’m sure you will agree. So, which balls will you use in the future? I’m sure for a lot of you it’ll be whatever you find in the rough on your local municipal. Me, I’ll be smacking some cheap shit I buy in Sports Soccer up and down the fairways of Kirkby, Bootle and possibly Allerton. Good job Titleist and Callaway continue to produce cutting edge balls eh?
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