Callaway Golf Company has announced that in 2001 it was granted more United States golf-related patents than any of its domestic competitors and continues to build one of the largest golf equipment patent portfolios in the world.
In 2001, Callaway Golf filed eighty golf-related (club and ball) patent applications in the United States. Over the same period, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) granted fifty-four patents to Callaway Golf—a number the Company believes is the largest number of golf-related U.S. patents granted to any USs manufacturer in 2001. Based on information available from the PTO, the number of golf club patents granted to Callaway Golf in 2001 exceeded the number granted to all of its domestic golf club competitors, combined.
Although it is just two years since Callaway Golf introduced its first golf ball to the world at the January 2000 PGA Merchandise Show, the Company has now obtained 25 domestic golf ball patents in the United States. Some of these patents are in areas of major technological significance, including key patents in the area of aerodynamics.
World-wide, Callaway Golf has more than 500 golf-related patents and an additional 300 pending patent applications. The Patent and Trademark Office already has told Callaway Golf that it will receive U.S. patents on thirty pending patent applications in 2002.
“Callaway Golf has a long history of innovation and of protecting that innovation legally with patents, trademarks, and other devices,” said Steve McCracken, senior executive vice president and chief legal officer. “That innovation has allowed the Company to build one of the largest golf-related patent portfolios in the world in a very short period of time. We are proud of our record in this area, and we will continue to build our portfolio of intellectual property rights as we introduce new products in 2002 and beyond.”
Callaway Golf Company www.callawaygolf.com