The Acushnet Company, the Fortune Brands division that manages the Titleist, FootJoy, Cobra, and Pinnacle golf brands filed suit last Monday in Federal District Court in Dallas against Academy Sports & Outdoors, alleging counterfeiting and trademark infringement. The golf company reportedly filed a similar Federal suit on Friday against Scheels All Sports, Inc. At issue is the alleged sale of counterfeit Titleist Pro V1 golf balls.
A judge denied Acushnets request for a temporary restraining order, citing the relief was “not warranted without an opportunity for the defendant to respond.” Academy has two weeks from the April 11 filing date to respond to the Acushnet allegations. Acushnet was seeking the TRO to halt the sale of the counterfeit product as well as the surrender for destruction of all infringing product, and any related materials bearing the Titleist or Pro V1 trademarks. The company is also attempting to get Academys cooperation in determining the source of the fake goods.
In court papers obtained by Sports Executive Weekly, Acushnet said that Academy is not an authorized dealer for the Pro V1 ball or any other Titleist products. A company press release alleged that Academy and “purchases Titleist labeled products through the grey market and other unauthorized channels.”
The company was initially tipped off by a consumer that purchased the fake Pro V1 golf balls at an Academy store in Austin, Texas. The balls, samples of which were also purchased by an Acushnet rep at a number of other Academy stores, were also determined by Acushnet and its R&D group to be counterfeit product.
Acushnet said they filed suit after Academy was unresponsive in their attempts to resolve the situation, alleging in their filing that an Academy buyer told Acushnets senior counsel that it would be a “big deal” to pull the goods off the floor.
Acushnet is requesting payment of all monies Academy gained through the sale of the fake product, as well as reimbursement of lost profits and revenues to Acushnet from the alleged sale of those goods. The company is also seeking penalties equal to three times any profit recorded by the retailer or lost by Acushnet as well as other punitive damages.
A local Billings, Montana paper reported the Scheels suit. The suit again alleges that Scheels purchased the Pro V1 balls through the gray market. Scheels president Steve Huldart confirmed the filing of the suit with the Billings Gazette, and acknowledged that the balls were immediately pulled from the shelves once they were informed of the alleged counterfeit status of the product. Huldart told the Gazette that a federal lawsuit was “unfortunate”. He told the paper a simple phone call would have “taken care of it.”
