He got really teed off.
An amateur golfer from Staten Island who invented a revolutionary putter has won a $135,000 verdict against the Callaway golf-club company for patent infringement.
Retired machine-shop teacher Nicholas Colucci, 86, said his aching back prompted him to come up with a way to retrieve his ball from the cup without having to bend over.
After years of fruitless dreaming, inspiration struck while he watched a duffer pitch a fit after missing a putt.
“He was banging the putter into the hole, and I saw him and said, ‘If he can do that, I can make a putter that can pick up the ball, because the putter was fitting into the hole,’ ” Colucci recalled.
A friend with a machine shop gave him free rein to experiment, and after about 100 prototypes, the “Jackpot Putter” was born.
The unique club has an upper flange and two walls that extend from the rear of the putting blade, allowing it to grab a ball between them.
Colucci was granted a patent in 1990, and he’s been selling it since 1999 through his EZ Line Putters company.
Colucci said he approached Callaway but was repeatedly rebuffed.
“I sent them prototypes and my patents, and they kept saying they weren’t interested,” he said.
Then, three years ago, he learned that Callaway was also selling a putter that picks up the ball.
Colucci sued, claiming five Callaway putters infringed on his patent.
Although last month’s verdict in a Texas federal court didn’t cover his costs — which were paid by his attorneys — Colucci feels vindicated.
“I wasn’t ever really interested in making money,” he said. “I’m not the type of guy who likes champagne, I prefer ginger ale.”
His lawyer, Dariush Keyhani, calling the dispute “a classic case of David vs. Goliath,” said that Colucci “invented one of the greatest golf putters ever made.”
Keyhani said the evidence supported more damages, and he’s seeking them.
A Callaway spokesman said the company was seeking to have the verdict tossed, and noted the jury threw out three of Colucci’s four infringement claims.
