Callaway Golf Co. has filed two suits accusing TaylorMade Golf Co. of violating its patents on three golf clubs and a ball-covering material. The maker of Big Bertha and Steelhead brand clubs is seeking monetary damages and an order that all the infringing TaylorMade products be destroyed. The company also wants an order permanently blocking TaylorMade from using the disputed technology. The suits contend that the patent violations have caused Callaway "irreparable injury," according to court documents. Since the introduction of its oversize Big Bertha driver in 1991, Carlsbad, Calif.-based Callaway has led an arms race among professional golfers and weekend duffers. The company, whose sales topped $1.02 billion last year, sells a line of Big Bertha irons and drivers as well as the full range of golf clubs, balls and other equipment. TaylorMade, a unit of Adidas Group, also is headquartered in Carlsbad and its products are used by a number of professional golfers. The TaylorMade patents targeted in these suits include a polyurethane golf ball cover that produces a softer feel and increased ball spin along with a club head used for longer drives, court documents show.

Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:01:12 am into the following categories: In The News

---

http://gen-eric.com/patents/htsrv/trackback.php/1271

Name:

Email: (not displayed on this site)

Site/Url:

Comment text:

Allowed XHTML tags: <p, ul, ol, li, dl, dt, dd, address, blockquote, ins, del, a, span, bdo, br, em, strong, dfn, code, samp, kdb, var, cite, abbr, acronym, q, sub, sup, tt, i, b, big, small>

URLs, email, AIM and ICQs will be converted automatically.

Options:
Auto-BR (Line breaks become <br />)
Remember me (Set cookies for name, email & url)