The Golf Patent Game

Filed in archive Golf Equipment on April 13, 2007

The outcome of golf tournaments - particularly the majors - is hugely important to a lot of people.

It's important not just to the winner or the caddy who gets a share of the prize money or the tournament organizers who make large sums from the gate.

It's important not just to the host broadcaster who generates as much advertising revenue as possible to compensate for the cost of buying the broadcast rights.

It's also vitally important to the equipment companies.

No surprise here; every player on tour has some kind of deal with club makers, ball manufacturers and clothing companies.

The game, quite simply, is a hugely competitive business arena.

What we see as spectators is the fight for equipment and ball supremacy on the course; what we don't see is the fight in the boardrooms and test labs.

One of the most powerful figures in the boardroom battles is the patent lawyer.

Now, we've all heard the lawyer jokes, so we won't go there. For sure, you won't hear Nike, Callaway or Bridgestone dissing their patent lawyers. Not once.

The patent is what protects a company's technology from being copied, in part or in whole, by another less scrupulous manufacturer.

It allows that company to maintain its competitive edge.

One of the most fascinating golf blogs I have come upon is written by a patent lawyer.

David Dawsey, a partner with the Ohio-based firm, Gallagher and Dawsey, is a professional engineer as well as patent lawyer.

He's also a golfer and has undertaken to track patent filings by the major players in the game today.

What he unearths is nothing short of a roadmap for the future in the game. And he shares his discoveries with the readers of his blog.

He finds much more than the equivalent of a car magazine's "spy photos" of the next model.

He finds the actual patent application filing, often complete with drawings for the planned product.

I'm featuring an interview with Dawsey today. You can listen by clicking the link below. As always, the download will take a couple of minutes.

That's a short time to wait for a glimpse into what the club and ball makers have planned for you and me.

The interview runs just over 11 minutes.

Let me or David know your thoughts or questions you might have!

Dawsey.mp3