Henry-Griffitts Golf has been alleging that Cleveland and TaylorMade have been infringing on their club fitting system patents. Their legal battle has come to an end as of today, with Cleveland and TaylorMade winning the battle.
Click below to read Cleveland’s press release.
12/14/06
Huntington Beach, CA…The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently entered a final judgment of non-infringement in favor 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 the Southern 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 Taylor Made.
Don Reino, general counsel for Cleveland Golf, stated that “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.â€
Based in Huntington Beach, CA, Cleveland Golf is a company that enjoys a strong presence on the PGA TOUR and competitive tours worldwide. Cleveland’s staff includes players such as Vijay Singh, Joe Durant, David Howell, and many others. The company was founded in 1979 to produce high quality replicas of classic golf clubs from the 1940’s and 1950’s but soon became regarded as an innovative producer of original equipment in it’s own right. It was acquired by QUIKSILVER, Inc. in 2005
and has remained steadfastly committed to providing “Tour proven, premium golf equipment to passionate golfers at prices that ensure value to consumers.†Other Cleveland Golf brands include Never Compromise Putters and FIDRA Performance Golf Apparel.
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