Mr. Joe Gomes was courteous enough to fire me off a personal email today, concerning the ongoing litigation ‘twixt Callaway and Acushnet (parent company of Titleist). Here are the first two paragraphs:

Fairhaven, MA (December 29, 2008) - Acushnet Company, the golf business of Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE: FO), announced that in relation to the ongoing patent dispute with Callaway Golf, it has initiated a product exchange program to eliminate any market confusion and minimize the business impact to retailers of the court injunction against certain Pro V1 products. The injunction is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2009. The company does not expect the exchange program to have a material adverse impact on its results.

As previously announced, the production of existing Pro V1 model golf balls was converted in September to be outside the patents at issue. Acushnet began shipping the converted product to retailers in November. Acushnet has requested that, as of January 1, retailers sell only these converted Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls. There are limited amounts of non-converted Pro V1 model golf balls in retail inventory, and Acushnet has requested that retailers return all non-converted golf balls remaining in their inventory as of January 1 in exchange for converted product. Converted product can be identified by a black or red circle on the dozen box and sleeves. The injunction and exchange program are limited to the United States and do not apply to retailers, distributors or tour usage outside of the U.S.

What I want to know is, can I get my hands on some non-converted Pro V1s and V1Xs, Mr. Gomes? I’ve a little bit of Christmas Cash that’s burning a hole in my pocket, so make me an offer!

Permalink 5 comments