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Golf News November 11th, 2008

Callaway wins court order over golf ball patent

CARLSBAD, California: Callaway Golf said it has won a court order permanently halting sales of Acushnet Co.’s Titleist Pro V1 golf balls, which Callaway argued infringed on patents that it holds.

Acushnet said it will appeal the ruling, and has converted production of the golf balls so that they are outside the patents in question.

Callaway said late Monday that the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, has granted the company’s request for a permanent injunction on sales of Acushnet’s current line of the Titleist Pro V1 balls, effective no later than Jan. 1. At Callaway’s request, professional golfers will be allowed to use the balls through the end of this year.

The court also rejected a request from Acushnet to overturn a jury’s December 2007 ruling in favor of Callaway in the patent dispute.

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Celebrity Golfers play the green at Shell Landing

“The more putts you make the more fun you have,” joked Fred Hooter, a pro golfer from Louisiana.

His theory wouldn’t help anyone win an average round of golf, but today at Shell landing, the rules were different. The pros were taking advantage of a day where the competition was low, and the scores didn’t matter. It’s a drastic change from a regular tour, which ended Sunday.

“Today you get to have fun. When you’re playing for real it’s like your office. You don’t get to have any fun when you’re in your office and when your’e working,” said PGA pro golfer Woody Austin. “It’s very rare when you get to have fun when you’re working. But today its all about fun.”

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Exclusive Yellowstone Club files for bankruptcy as Wall Street’s woes hit elite retreat

The Yellowstone Club, an exclusive mountain retreat for the ultra-rich, said it filed for bankruptcy Monday after failing to secure new financing — underscoring that even the elite can’t escape the country’s current economic troubles.

Spokesman Bill Keegan said the club filed for Chapter 11 protection in federal bankruptcy court in Montana. The move came just two months after the club announced an ambitious expansion plan through a partnership with the Arizona-based Discovery Land Company.

The gated, millionaires-only club on 13,400 acres in Montana’s Gallatin Mountains boasts a private ski hill and golf course. Opened in 1999, it counts former Vice President Dan Quayle and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates among its 340 members.

In a statement to The Associated Press, the club said it had been unable to secure financing arrangements with its creditors and bondholders. It plans to reorganize its finances and emerge from bankruptcy “as soon as possible,” the statement said.

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