TaylorMade and PXG have reached a settlement over pending patent litigation involving their golf club production technology, the two companies said in a joint announcement on Friday. The settlement resolved a patent infringement lawsuit filed on behalf of PXG against TaylorMade regarding its P790 iron design.
Each company’s CEO gave a statement regarding the lawsuit. “I’m pleased that we were able to reach an acceptable and amicable resolution to put this case behind us so we can continue focusing on bringing industry leading equipment innovations to the golfer,” said David Abeles, the CEO of TaylorMade.
PXG CEO Bob Parsons stood firm in his remarks. “As a golf equipment innovator, PXG will continue to pursue research and development and obtain patents for our novel club designs in the iron technology space,” he said. “We will not hesitate to assert those patents in the future.”
According to the statement, the settlement will allow each company to have “specified rights to make club products under patent cross-licenses.”
The suit began in September 2017, when Parsons tweeted that he had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against TaylorMade. In his tweet, Parsons alleged that TaylorMade’s new P790 irons, which retail for $1,299, “infringe upon many PXG patents.”
Legal analyst Michael McCann covered the suit for GOLF.com at the time, and provided some insight:
“PXG contends that the design of TaylorMade’s P790 irons copies patent-protected designs for PXG’s clubs. For example, according to PXG, TaylorMade fills an interior cavity with an elastic polymer material known as “Speedfoam.” PXG argues this material mimics the elastic polymer material it uses. The alleged infringement therefore concerns substances added to the clubs as well as the accompanying technological processes.”
You can read more about the suit here.
