Kirkland Golf Ball Lawsuit: Costco vs. Titleist Outcome and Aftermath

The Kirkland golf ball lawsuit was a 2017–2018 patent and false advertising fight between Costco and Acushnet, the parent company of Titleist, over Costco’s Kirkland Signature four-piece golf ball. Acushnet accused Costco of infringing eleven of its golf ball patents and of falsely advertising that Kirkland products met or exceeded the quality of leading national brands. Costco sued first, seeking a court ruling that it had done nothing wrong. The parties settled out of court in 2018 on undisclosed terms, and the original four-piece Kirkland ball was discontinued shortly afterward.¹

What Set Off the Fight

In late 2016, Costco began selling a four-piece urethane-covered golf ball under its Kirkland Signature house brand. It was made by Nassau Golf Co. Ltd. of South Korea and priced at about $15 for two dozen, roughly $1.15 per ball. A dozen Titleist Pro V1 balls cost around $56 at the time.²³

A blind performance test by MyGolfSpy concluded the Kirkland ball equaled or exceeded the Pro V1 in every measurable category. Costco sold out by the end of 2016, had to pull the product from its website, and resellers began flipping the balls on eBay.²³ A tour-level ball at warehouse-club pricing put real pressure on the premium end of the market.

What Acushnet Claimed

In December 2016, Acushnet sent Costco a letter alleging violations of eleven of its golf ball patents and false advertising.⁴ The patents fell into two groups: core and layer composition, including hardness measurements and the relationship between inner and outer cores; and dimple geometry, including the share of the ball’s surface covered by dimples and dimple profiles based on catenary curve designs.⁵

The false advertising claim targeted the Kirkland Signature guarantee, which promised that the products “meet or exceed the quality standards of leading national brands.” Acushnet said its internal testing showed the Pro V1 and Pro V1x were “demonstrably superior” to the Kirkland ball in performance and durability.⁶

Costco Sued First

Rather than wait to be sued, Costco filed suit on March 17, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle. It asked the court for a declaratory judgment that the Kirkland Signature golf balls did not infringe any Acushnet patents and that the guarantee was not false advertising.⁷⁸

The move was strategic. Suing first let Costco pick the court and take the plaintiff’s position. Legal commentators noted that Costco leaned on the “threatening” tone of Acushnet’s letter to establish the live controversy that declaratory judgment actions require.⁴ Costco also flagged that Acushnet held more than 2,500 patents, a figure former Titleist ball designer Dean Snell called a “ridiculous number” given how many golf balls actually exist.²

Acushnet countersued, alleging infringement of ten patents covering core and dimple design and pressing the false advertising claims. It did not name a dollar amount but asked for “adequate damages” equal to three times Costco’s Kirkland ball profits and demanded a jury trial.⁶

How the Case Ended

The case was settled out of court in 2018. The terms were not publicly disclosed.¹

After the settlement, Costco’s golf ball business “went dark briefly” and then returned under the same Kirkland Signature name with a redesigned product.¹ Production of the original four-piece ball ended.⁹ The replacement moved to a three-piece, 338-dimple construction, down from the original four-piece, 360-dimple design.¹⁰

The Kirkland Ball Today

Costco currently sells the Kirkland Signature Performance Plus V3.0, a three-piece urethane-covered ball priced at $39.99 for two dozen.¹¹ It is manufactured at the SM Parker factory in Vietnam.¹² Independent testing shows the current version trails the Pro V1 by a few yards off the tee and falls slightly short in greenside spin, though it remains substantially cheaper.¹³

A Related Case: TaylorMade and the Kirkland Irons

The Titleist dispute is not the only Kirkland Signature patent fight, and searchers sometimes conflate the two. On January 31, 2024, TaylorMade filed a patent infringement and false advertising suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California over the Kirkland Signature Players Iron, alleging the $500 set copied its patented $1,800 P790 iron design.¹⁴¹⁵

The complaint named Costco and its contracted design partner, Southern California Design Company (doing business as Indi Golf), and asserted infringement of five patents covering hollow iron construction, dampening filler, face insert welding methods, and internal weight positioning.¹⁶ TaylorMade also called Costco’s claim that its irons contained an “injected urethane insert” “literally false” and alleged that Indi Golf employed a former TaylorMade engineer who had worked on the P790.¹⁴ The case remains pending as of the most recent docket activity in late 2025.¹⁷

1
Golf.com. Costco Kirkland Four-Piece Golf Ball Refund
2
Golf.com. Ball Wars: Titleist’s Parent Company Countersues Costco
3
Retail Dive. Costco Goes to Court to Keep Its Golf Ball in Play
4
IPWatchdog. Costco v. Acushnet: Costco Preemptive Strike Sets Tone for Litigation
5
Golf-Patents.com. Complaint, Costco v. Acushnet, Case No. 2:17-cv-423
6
GolfMagic. Titleist’s Acushnet Countersues Costco for Patent Infringement Over Kirkland Ball
7
MarketWatch. Costco Sues Titleist in Golf Ball Battle
8
Wall Street Journal. Costco Sues Titleist in Battle Over Golf Balls
9
Golf Sidekick. Who Makes Kirkland Golf Balls
10
MyGolfSpy. 2018 Costco Signature Golf Ball
11
Costco. Kirkland Signature V3.0 Golf Ball
12
MyGolfSpy. Kirkland Performance Plus V3 Ball Review
13
Golf Insider UK. Kirkland Golf Ball Review
14
Golf Digest. TaylorMade Sues Costco Over Patent Infringement on Kirkland Irons
15
IP Law, Allard School of Law. TaylorMade v. Costco: Patent Law in the World of Golf
16
Golf.com. TaylorMade, Costco Headed to Court Over Iron Technology
17
CourtListener. Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., Case No. 3:24-cv-00212