Callaway Golf Wins Round In Patent Dispute Over Titleist Pro V1 Golf Ball

Callaway Golf said Tuesday that a federal judge has granted an order that could stop the sale of Titleist’s popular Pro V1 golf balls after the first of the year.

A permanent injunction was granted against Titleist’s parent Acushnet Co. in a patent infringement case involving the Titleist Pro V1 family of golf balls. The Pro V1 is one of the most popular balls in the game, especially among better players.

The injunction could force Acushnet to stop selling the Pro V1 after the first of the year.

In December, Carlsbad-based Callaway won a patent infringement case against Acushnet over the Pro V1. Acushnet had asked a U.S. District Court judge in Wilmington, Del., to overturn the verdict. On Monday, the court upheld Callaway’s patents and set the time frame for the permanent injunction.

Analysts said the move would likely accelerate negotiations between Acushnet and Callaway to come up with a royalty agreement on Pro V1 sales.

Callaway sued in June 2007 over the Titleist Pro V1 line, introduced in 2000. Callaway argued its patents involve technological breakthroughs in producing multilayer, solid core balls that the company argued resulted “in performance that had previously eluded the industry” and revolutionized the game.

Acushnet argued that the Titleist Pro V1 is based on more than 70 of its own patents.

“We strongly disagree with the judge’s ruling, and will file an appeal and seek relief from the injunction,” Joe Nauman, an executive vice president with Fairhaven, Mass.-based Acushnet, said in a news release late Monday.

Nauman said the ruling “will not have any impact on our ability to supply our customers with Pro V1 golf balls,” because Acushnet in September converted production of existing Pro V1 models “so that they are outside of the patents in question.”

He also said Acushnet plans to introduce new Titleist Pro V1 products early next year “that are also outside the scope of the patents in question.”

- Mike Freeman, San Diego Union Tribune