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Patent Law

: Golf Patents

The Tables Turn in the GPS Industry? Yet Another GPS Patent Infringement Case

By David Dawsey PE Esq

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About one year ago I reported that GPS Industries and Optimal IP Holdings filed a patent infringement lawsuit against 10 defendants (3:07CV0831-K, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division) that I characterized as reading like a Who?s Who of the golfing GPS world. You can refresh yourself on that lawsuit with these posts: initial, update 1, update 2, update 3, update 4, update 5, and update 6.

Now it is a year later and many of the defendants find themselves listed as defendants in another GPS patent infringement lawsuit; this time filed by Roblor Marketing Group. The defendants listed in this latest lawsuit filed on May 23rd include GPS Industries (the plaintiff in the prior lawsuit), ProShot Investors, ProLink Holdings, ProLink Solutions, IntelliGolf, Karrier Communications, L1 Technologies, Links Point, SkyHawke Technologies, Goodwin Golf Group, and Polaris Golf Systems. You have to wonder how many of the defendants can absorb the financial burden of defending themselves in two patent infringement actions. Click HERE to read the actual Complaint.

The patent involved in this lawsuit is USPN 5507485 titled ?Golf Computer and Golf Replay Device.? The patent describes the invention as:

A portable computer to facilitate the game of golf is programmed to record a golfer's score and keep track of various shots and the results of related wagering. Based upon such data and data regarding the layout of the golf course, the computer can provide real time recommendations for club selection as well as providing a summary of the results of a round of golf. Also, the computer can receive global positioning system (GPS) signals to locate a golf ball within a golf course.

Sounds innocent enough, right? Well, consider the following claim from the patent:

18. A portable golf computer comprising:
    display means for displaying scenes representative of the geographic layout of a golf course;
    memory means for storing data representative of a plurality of said scenes for each hole on the golf course;
    position sensing means for automatically sensing the location of the portable golf computer on said golf course; and
    processor means, responsive to said position sensing means, for causing said display means to automatically display a particular one of the scenes for a particular hole as determined by the sensed location of the portable golf computer at said hole.

Interesting! This will be a case to watch.

David Dawsey ? Keeping an Eye on Golf GPS Patent Infringement

Full post as published by Golf Patents on May 27, 2008 (boomark / email).