U.S. Patent Office Ruling: Titleist Wins! Callaway Loses :(

Titleist and Callaway have been fighting an ongoing battle about whether or not Titleist has the rights to continue to manufacture its crazily successful Titleist Pro V1 golf ball. This battle has been going on for over 2 YEARS! And Titleist has won a major battle in their eyes.

“That’s very good news for us,” Mr. Nauman (Acushnet Co. Executive Vice President) said of the patent office’s decision. “It tells us that the patent office has heard all the arguments and is still unconvinced.” The patent office is basically saying, ‘We’ve heard all the arguments, and we’re not going to change our minds,'” Mr. Nauman said.

Titleist is saying that the patents owned by Callaway are invalid, while Callaway, in a civil suit filed in federal district court in Delaware in February 2006, says that the Pro V1 golf ball line infringes on its patents. It is basically a he said-she said battle over who’s patent is valid.

Callaway declined to comment on the decisions, according to Michele Szynal, a spokeswoman for the company.