Not sure if this ball was being sold in the store or not, but it was being sold online, with a limit of two double box sets of 24 balls for $29.99 Last I checked they were sold out again. Lots of good reviews on Costco website. A few bad reviews but mostly 5 star reviews.

Acushnet take the fight back to Costco

Over Kirkland patent infringements

Words:

GolfPunk

Golf ball wars are back, as Acushnet have fired off a 284–page countersuit against Costco’s lawsuit against them which was originally filled five months ago.

The original lawsuit from Costco sought a judgement that it was not infringing any of Acushnet’s patents.

Now Acushnet have counter–claimed with a blanket denial of all Costco’s claims, and are now alleging that Costco’s already legendary Kirkland Signature ball does infringe on 10 of their patents, and that the Kirkland Signature guarantee amounts to false advertising.

The Kirkland Signature guarantee applies to a wide range of products offered by Costco under its Kirkland Signature own–label brand.

It states that these private label products “must be equal to or better than the national brands.”

Acushnet’s countersuit is calling for a jury trial over the alleged infringing patents, and is not mincing its words.

“Acushnet Company has been, is being, and will continue to be, seriously damaged and irreparably harmed unless Costco is enjoined by this Court from the actions complained of herein, and thus Acushnet Company is without an adequate remedy at law.

“Acushnet Company is entitled to recover from Costco the damages sustained by Acushnet Company as a result of Costco’s wrongful acts in an amount subject to proof at trial.”

The Acushnet is also calling for Costco’s “willful infringement” to be punished by trebling the damages, and asking for three times Costco’s profits from the Kirkland Signature ball.

The Acushnet countersuit also alleges that the Kirkland Signature guarantee “is likely to deceive a significant number of purchasers and potential purchasers of golf ball products into believing that the Kirkland Signature Golf Ball ‘meets or exceeds the quality standards’” of the Pro V1 and Pro V1x.

It looks like its gloves off all round, and that Acushnet will do everything in their power to maintain the dominance of their best selling Pro Vs.

I have to wonder where this will end and if Costco will ever be selling these golf balls again. Going by what I've read about the case, I tend to be on the side of Costso. I have ZERO problems with their claims for this ball. So unless the did in fact violate some Acushnet patents for the ball, I would say Titleist has no case. 

I think you both might be right on this issue. Costco has Little to gain by fighting Titleist on this, and Titleist has a LOT to lose so they will be happy to push this lawsuit as far and they can. 

This is just one more issue that will prove that the Legal System, is NOT a Justice System. but a system that allows the ones with the most money to put down the little guy. It's NOT a matter of who is right and who is wrong here, it's a matter of who has the Deepest Pockets and is willing to put up the money for a long drawn out fight. 

I just read the article that you provided a link to and it's kind of funny. One think Acushnet states is that it's easy to show that the Titleist balls are better than the Costco ball, but I've read more than a few test reports that say just the opposite is truw. Some test reposts DO say that the Titleist balls are better, but just as many say the Costco balls are as good if not better than the ProV1 or ProV1X balls. So I don't think they can win this battle on that point at least. 

I kind of hope that Titleist LOSES this battle, if for no other reason than the PRICE they charge for their tour balls, $45.00 or more for a dozen golf balls is crazy. And lets be honest here. Titleist comes out with an improved version of the ProV1 and ProV1X golf ball EVERY YEAR, So that kind of proves that there are ways to improve on the cuttent ball. So it seems that Titleiest KNOWS that their ball could be better if they just wanted to make them better. For the last 10 or more years they have come out with a better ball, at least according to their markeing claims. Time will tell how this all plays out, but I'm hoping for a win by Costco on this one. 

Has any of you heard or read anything new on this issue of the Costco balls ? I have NOT read anything in months. What I did find interesting is that now Titleist is running an add for their new Tour Soft ball that they are proclaiming to be BETTER than the soft tour balls from Callaway, Bridgerstone or Taylormade. Seems a bit much for Titleist to do this when they got all bent out of shape when a few golf ball reviews were posted saying the new Costco ball was a pretty close match to both the Titleist Prov1 and the Callaway Chrome Soft. Costco did NOT say this, only a golf review site, so why is Titleist now saying therie new ball is better than the other. If you ask me, I would think Titleist is the one that should be getting sued, NOT Costco. 

I just saw an ad by Taylormade in which they claim that a recent tour winner was using a TP5 ball to win, and they were saying it was BETTER than the number 1 ball in golf, the proV1. So it seems a few of the top ball companies are now claiming that they make the best ball. So WHY is Titleist so unset about the Costco balls ?? I don't think it's about the claim of being as good as the top Tour balls, BUT it's all about the much lower price of the Costco Balls. $30.00 for TWO dozen compared to around $45 for one dozen is the real issure and Titleinst dosn'et like it. 

I remember watching a video where they cut a Costco ball and a ProV1 ball in half. As I recall it was easy to see that the two balls were different in make-up. One had a smaller core than the other to name just one differecen. It's been some time since I saw the video so I have no idea where I found it.sorry to say. As I also recall, the guy in the video said the Costco ball was more like an old TalyorMade ball rather than the ProV1 balls.