A Quick Legal Note

Consumers will hardly see the effect of a recent legal ruling but for industry giants Cleveland Golf and TaylorMade Golf, it was a big one. Especially considering the importance of custom fitting these days.

This news just in from Cleveland Golf:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently entered a final judgment ofnon-infringement in favour of The Roger Cleveland Golf Company ("Cleveland Golf") and Taylor Made Golf Company ("Taylor Made"), ending a patent infringement suit filed by Henry-Griffitts, Inc. ("Henry-Griffitts") in 2004. In this lawsuit, Henry-Griffitts alleged that club-fitting systems used by Cleveland Golf and Taylor Made infringed U.S. Patent No. 4,932,662 (the '662 Patent").

Cleveland Golf and Taylor Made chose to vigorously defend this lawsuit, and the United States District Court for theSouthern District of California entered a judgment finding no infringement of the '662 Patent by either Cleveland Golf or Taylor Made on January 23, 2006. Henry Griffitts appealed the District Court decision, and oral arguments were held at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. on November 6, 2006. The Federal Circuit ruling affirmed the judgment of the District Court, defeating the claims of Henry Griffitts in their entirety, and awarded costs of the appeal to Cleveland Golf and TaylorMade.

Don Reino, general counsel for Cleveland Golf, stated, “While Cleveland Golf respects the intellectual property rights of others, our company will defend against what we believe are frivolous claims with the same passion that we use in making our golf equipment.”