US court upholds injunction against Titleist

selling certain models of Pro VI golf balls

FROM THE GOLF WEEK.COM WEBSITE
A United States federal appellate court ruled December 23 to uphold an injunction issued in November that prevents Titleist from selling certain models of its Pro V1 golf balls.
The injunction stems from Callaway’s patent infringement suit against Acushnet Co., Titleist’s parent company.
At the crux of the litigation is Callaway’s argument that Titleist infringed upon four Callaway patents during creation of Titleist’s Pro V1 franchise.
A lower court has already ruled in Callaway’s favor, but Acushnet appealed and that legal motion is pending. Acushnet requested a stay of the injunction but was denied.]
The sales ban, which takes effect from January 1, 2009, only applies to Pro V1s using the patents in question. But its impact on the marketplace remains unclear, in part, because the two parties have differing legal interpretations of the scope of the injunction.
Callaway maintains Pro V1s made with the patents in question can’t be sold to consumers; Acushnet argues it simply means that the company can no longer sell such products to retailers.
In September, Titleist converted production of current Pro V1s so that they are outside of the patents in question, according to Acushnet officials. That leaves a limited supply of non-converted Pro V1s remaining at retail.
In a statement, Steve McCracken, Callaway’s senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer, said: “Callaway Golf believes it is time for Acushnet to accept its losses in court and get on with the task of helping retailers clean up their inventories over the next week.”
Acushnet countered with its own statement. Said Joe Nauman, the company’s executive vice president, corporate and legal: “Acushnet does not believe that the injunction order requires Acushnet to recall any Pro V1 golf balls from retailers, or that retailers are required to return any golf balls to Acushnet.”
The company, however, will accept any Pro V1s that are returned.
It remains uncertain when, or if, the courts will address this point of contention. Meanwhile, the appeals process regarding Callaway’s assertions of infringement continues. Acushnet disputes the validity of the patents that Callaway alleges Titleist infringed.
Don't hold your breath. A decision isn’t expected until late 2009.

Paul Casey in a hurry

to win again - he's a

married man now!

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
MARRIED MAN: Paul Casey of England sure found a peculiar place to spend his honeymoon.
Casey finally married his longtime girlfriend, Jocelyn, on the Sunday before the recent Chevron World Challenge. So he played golf the week after his wedding, but host Tiger Woods gave him quite a wedding present -- $200,000 for Casey's 11th-place finish.
Casey, pictured right, said a proper honeymoon was planned later next year. He wants to go on a safari in South Africa, and has been told that September is the best time.
The Englishman is coming up on the two-year anniversary of his last victory (on the US Tour), in the Abu Dhabi Championship. He wonders if he spent so much time obsessing about majors that he didn't prepare properly for other tournaments.
"I maybe fell victim to that on a couple of events," he said. "My brain was very much geared toward what's coming up in two weeks' time, or what happened last week. It's a learning process. But I can't take too long. I'm 31. And I'm married."

LIFE MEMBERSHIP: Davis Love III won 20 times to earn lifetime membership on the US PGA Tour. Trevor Immelman won the Masters to get the same courtesy in Europe.
Immelman became the fourth South African to be awarded honorary life membership on the European Tour because of his Masters victory, joining Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Gary Player. Chief executive George O'Grady said such membership was for players who have won majors or contributed significantly to the European Tour -- or in Immelman's case, both.
Immelman first won on the Challenge Tour before capturing four titles on the European Tour schedule, including his two-shot victory over Tiger Woods at Augusta National.
"I grew up here in South Africa watching professional golf, watching the European Tour, listening to Renton Laidlaw commentate about Seve and Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam and all those guys," Immelman said. "So for me to join them and become an honorary life member of the European Tour is something that's just extremely special for me."

TIGER DATES: No one in the Tiger Woods camp is particularly happy about the dates of his charity event. The Chevron World Challenge ended four days before Christmas, and it followed tournaments in South Africa and Australia that kept away top-ranked players.
While it was an elite field, it featured only two of the top 10 in the world ranking.
"The first week in December would be great," Woods said. "The date after the Skins Games would be the ideal date."
That would make sense on the calendar -- the Skins Game over Thanksgiving holiday weekend, another California event, then head east to Florida for the Father-Son Challenge and the Merrill Lynch Shootout hosted by Greg Norman.
For now, there appears to be too many moving parts.
"We've still got to work things out, see what kind of TV contracts they have," Woods said. "We'll see what happens."
US PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem would only say he was looking into it.

TEEING IT UP: Commissioner Tim Finchem has asked players to consider adding a tournament or two to their schedules. Perhaps he's trying to lead by example.
"I'm going from zero to one," he said, confirming he plans to play in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Hunter Mahan spilled the beans by saying Finchem would be his amateur partner. Instead, they'll be in the same foursome. Finchem said he would be playing with Davis Love III, with the other amateur in the group AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson.
"The chairman and CEO of AT&T asked me to play, and I do believe I said, 'Yes, sir,'" Finchem said.
Finchem said his handicap index is 6.3.

DIVOTS: Commissioner Tim Finchem was at Sherwood Country Club last week for the first time since 1994, this time under much happier circumstances. Along with a few meetings, he had lunch with Tiger Woods. The last time he was there was for the Shark Shootout, when Greg Norman introduced plans for a world tour.

Davis Love III put the state of the US PGA Tour into perspective with the financial crisis. "Our purses will go up next year. We're going to get a pay raise. And that's pretty good in this economy," he said.

Boo Weekley keeps it simple, but he's brighter than he lets on. Walking off the range at the Chevron World Challenge, a fan called out, "C'mon, Boo. Get your name up there on the leaderboard."

To which Weekley replied, "It already is. There ain't but 12 of us." There were 16 players, but you get the point.

STAT: Tiger Woods (No. 1) and Phil Mickelson (No. 3) will be the only Americans among the top 10 in Official World Golf Ranking at the end of this year. That's the fewest Americans in the top 10 since 1995 with Corey Pavin (No. 5) and Fred Couples (No. 7).

NAME CALLING: One thing Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson now have in common is that both have been called the same derogatory word in public -- Mickelson by Woods' caddie Steve Williams at a charity dinner in New Zealand, Woods by himself after hooking his tee shot into the ocean on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach during the 2000 U.S. Open.