Bridgestone/Acushnet ProV1/X lawsuit settled

WEB STREET GOLF REPORT


BREAKING NEWS
Monday, October 01, 2007


GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT:
In March of 2005, accusations were made regarding Titleist’s ProV1 and ProV1x golf balls along with some of the other models by the #1 ball in golf. Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd., and its wholly owned subsidiary, Bridgestone Golf, Inc., filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Acushnet Company (Titleist’s parent Company) in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. It centered on ten United States patents owned by Bridgestone relating to multi-piece solid core golf ball technology. “During the course of several months of negotiations with Acushnet, we attempted to settle this dispute; however, when negotiations failed, Acushnet left us with no other course of action, but to file suit,” said Mr. Kawano, President, Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd in a prepared statement in 2005. In the ensuing complaint, Bridgestone Sports charged Acushnet with willful infringement of ten United States patents. Among the Acushnet balls charged with infringement were: Titleist Pro V1, the Titleist Pro V1x, the Titleist NXT, Titleist NXT Tour, the Titleis DT SoLo, and the Pinnacle Exception golf balls. More than two years later Bridgestone announced it has reached a settlement in its patent dispute with The Acushnet Company. Under the terms of the agreement, Acushnet will pay Bridgestone a license fee that includes an on-going royalty for a license under certain of Bridgestone’s patents. The two parties have also agreed to a non-royalty bearing cross-license of other patents held by each company. The agreement resolves all pending litigation in the United States between them. A related suit in Japan was not a part of this settlement and remains pending, according to Bridgestone. Commenting on the settlement, Bridgestone Sports’ President Hisashi Kawano said, “We are very pleased to have reached a settlement agreement with Acushnet and to bring the U.S. litigation to an end. This agreement demonstrates the value of our technology and our Intellectual Property." Acushnet issued a prepared statement on the subject but declined to accept any questions to gain any further insight into the topic. “The litigation between Acushnet Company and Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd. regarding golf ball patents, which was filed in March, 2005 in the United States District Court in Delaware, has been resolved through mediation. The resolution includes fully paid up cross licenses between the parties for certain patents. The resolution also includes a royalty bearing license from Bridgestone to Acushnet with respect to certain patents. The terms of the agreement are confidential. Acushnet considers this matter to be closed and will have no further comment.”

Back to main page

I think I got the gist of that, but now I have a headache.