Gene Littler Lineup (Japan Market Zebra)

The record on this release comes entirely from golfheritage.org, and it tells an unusual story about a putter that otherwise didn't change. According to the publication, the Zebra name had only been trademarked in the USA, and a Japanese businessman held the trademark on 'ZEBRA' in class 28. That created a problem when the first 5,000 units bound for Japan were halted at the border on trademark infringement grounds, per golfheritage.org.

The fix, as golfheritage.org reports it, wasn't a redesign. The putter was identical, only the soleplate was switched, with the new plates reading Gene Littler Lineup instead of Zebra, and the change was made for Japan sales only. Everything else on the head carried over from the Zebra Mallet line.

golfheritage.org calls this story one with perhaps the happiest ending of any in the history of putter manufacturing, and notes owning one and prizing it for that reason. That's a Community-adjacent, publication-sourced opinion rather than a verified claim, but it's the frame this release tends to be discussed in: less about a spec change and more about a soleplate standing in for a trademark dispute.