Everyone knew this day was coming, but that doesn't make the sting any less painful.
If you've been following along, it shouldn't come as a surprise that JOOLA has announced that they've officially filed a suit against USA Pickleball.
You can read their statement from Instagram here:
In their previous statement, after they were once again denied by USAP to have their paddles re-listed on the USA Pickleball Approved Paddle List, they wrote:
"We plan to dispute USAP's decision to remove Gen3 paddles from the list, and the process employed to do so, in forthcoming legal proceedings."
In case you missed it, here was JOOLA's full update on June 5, 2024:
What happens next?
USA Pickleball has shown no signs of backing down to JOOLA or any other company for that matter. Just this week, we've seen them delist more paddles during the "Great Delisting."
The Vatic Pro Oni was the latest paddle to be removed.
Erik Tice
In his statement, Daryl – the Vatic Pro owner, did not mention any legal action, though he did make a curious statement about USAP adopting new testing methods after the paddles were originally approved.
We haven't heard from USAP whether this is true or not, so we can't really comment on what those new testing methods are.
Whatever happens next could have sweeping effects across all of pickleball.
USA Pickleball is a 501(c)(3) organization, which means it likely doesn't have access to the resources a company like JOOLA might have.
Jason Flamm
Whether JOOLA wins the case or not, the outcome could be a massive blow to the USAP organization.
Could this be the beginning of the end of USA Pickleball as the governing body of the sport? Or will this further cement them as the authority on it?
I suppose we'll find out ... in court.
