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| One of our first
boards and structures - 1984 Our founder George Zeeman and Jim Daley |
| In 1984 our founder, George Zeeman
noticed that golf was the only sport that didn't have a standard scoreboard.
What there was, (and still is at many clubs) were a hodge-podge of homemade
contraptions that were misplaced, ugly and really didn't do the job. Educated in stagecraft, and an experienced member of the theatre, film and television industries, Mr. Zeeman realized the subjective importance of this mirror for the players. After all, the whole object of playing golf is to count the number of times you swing at the ball. A friend was familiar with a "White Board" manufacturer, so Mr. Zeeman designed and built his first board. It was an immediate visible improvement and soon after Mr. Zeeman was asked to build his second scoreboard. A better mousetrap! In 1989, James Ray Carpenter, Past President PGA, joined us as mentor extraordinaire. A great deal of our success in no small account is due to his advice and ongoing counsel. Today, there are over 2000 clubs in 19 countries and all 50 states that have and use our products. |
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ESPECIALLY
FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO READ
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| About
Our Competitors One of our competitors says "He's the
Original" claiming to have started his business in 1987. He says he's
from Nevada, but in 1987 he said he was from Clinton County, New York. Clinton
County, NY is were we're from, and we were already manufacturing golf scoreboards
in 1987. Do you suppose he got the IDEA from us? We know he did!
We thought he got into business in 1989. Maybe we're mistaken. This same "competitor" says "No Other Products Compare". We think that's true, because our products are BETTER. Better Engineered, Better Designed and better Constructed. He says "Don't Be Fooled". Clubs like Augusta National, The Riviera, Tournament Players' Clubs, The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, The Royal Birkdale, Pelican Hills, Bulle-Rock, Sandal's and hundreds upon hundreds of clubs have had our products for years. Ask yourself have these clubs been fooled? Did Al Gore invent the internet? This same competitor, took our name registered it as a domain name and linked our company name to their web site. We regret any confusion this may have caused you, our attorneys are hard at work. |
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PATENTS
VS. COPYRIGHTS ?
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| Patents
As we've always developed our own products, and in fact the FIRST
golf scoreboard products, it's never occurred to us to try to patent something
that was not patentable.You cannot patent an automobile, nor can you patent
a scoreboard. What can be patented are unique hardware designs such as one
of our competitor's "clips", then you can say that you have "patented
scoreboards". The patent office is literally awash in patents. Most
of then significantly modified earlier patents, whereupon, new patents are
then issued. This process is repeated over and over. The second reason some
people try to patent all products is to try to intimidate people 'from coming
into "their industry"! Smoke and Mirrors? Raz-a-ma-Taz? Copyrights On the other hand copyrights are generally more useful in protecting creative design formats. Protecting the look of the product as well as it's function. A real protection of value. We do copyright our formats where possible. Our CalendarMaster is unique in its design and worth protecting, as competitors have and would "borrow" everything we develop, from marketing, to design, to language et al. In closing, contact the clubs in this brochure and ask them about our products and ask them how we perform when there's a problem. That will tell you all you need to know! Thanks for taking the time to know us. For The Golf Scoreboard Company George E. Zeeman P.S. Write us if you'd like a list of clubs where we've had problems. The true test! Copies of our competitor's patents available upon request - it makes really entertaining reading. |