King and all B&I are in a position they can't loose, no matter how anything comes down.
If the bifurcation comes over a slow dribble out of minor division of rules as mentioned they already have a chink in that armour with the grooves, then all TM and the others do is for the next several years make more wedges and most am golfers will still buy the groove that are not approved for the pros or certain am USGA competitions. If the ball is rolled back only for the highest am tournaments an pros, and the current market of long distance - high performance balls allowed for ams... well all the manufacturers will have a small operation to make competition balls and still sell the full market compliment of current hot tech balls, and ultimately make more money. Under bifurcation, manufacturers will make more money, not less. Competitions will still be as exciting (maybe more so) if a set of tournament spec are imposed. How do manufacturers or pros loose. As they as players develope from early ams of teen years showing promise, at somepoint they will have to switch to competition balls and learn their craft with them, if they want to compete in scratch or high amatuer competions, or make money as a pro. Simple. What is the big deal on the bifurcated performance ball?
But, if the USGA wants to dial the rule on ball specs back for all golf as a unified rule maker with R&A, then the manufacturers can sue, or conform and see how the courts rule and cards are dealt. If that happens, manufacturers will have to make a crap load of manufacturing changes, and they'll just sell all the more balls as the new unified rule takes place.
I hope the USGA calls Kings hand and makes a rule with the R&A (one way or the other) and then plant their feet and enforce it.
This is where the ANGC could make an impact on the game far greater than letting some female plutocrat - olegarch join. Impose a competition ball on the toon-a-mint. And, double the first place prize money (even if only for one test pilot competition ball experimental year). See if the pros will boycott. Then, put on the best damn toon-a-mint ever. Loosen the expenditure on the budget and go all out. After a fine tournament is held, and no objectionable thing other than good golf ensues; then what will be the adverse impact in any court case manufacturers might bring? There would be no restriction of commerce, given only the ANGC imposed their own local rule. But, with a successful tournament, that will start the ball rolling, so to speak, for more roll backs on long distance - high performance tech that is putting the pro and top levels of the game on such a disparate trajectory from the everyday joe, where the tech isn't really having a big impact on scoring or increasing course length, since most back tees are already 6700-7000 and the average player should be at 6000-6200 anyway.
The USGA and R&A make the rules, and they need to step up and come out from under their desks and take these manufacturers on. If they loose, we are already on a manufacturers dominated path. So, a loss in court for USGA won't be any worse than if they do nothing at all and do become irrelavant as King challenges.
Finally, if King and manufacturers win and it gets so that tech makes golf too expensive for interested participants to keep up with yearly roll outs of more tech and render courses obsolete, then in the end the manufacturers will loose anyway, because they will loose the game as it becomes a game for clowns .... very wealthy clowns.... as suggested above.