Sir Ian Taylor ‘deeply disappointed’ at Sir Russell Coutts’ legal claim that race graphics breach copyright

• Author: Fran O’Sullivan exclusive
• Published date: 11 January 2021
• Date: 11 January 2021
• Publication title: New Zealand Herald, The (Auckland, New Zealand)

The warning shot fired by two companies that Coutts leads — Oracle Racing and F50 League LLC, which trades as SailGP — has ramifications for how the upcoming Prada Cup and the America’s Cup are going to be broadcast.

A legal notice alleging copyright infringement during pre-Christmas racing over graphics used in what is known as the LiveLine system of augmented reality broadcasting was sent to Animation Research Ltd (ARL) and two other parties on December 23.

Taylor — recently knighted for his work including pioneering development of world-leading real-time 3D visualisation for major sports broadcasts beginning with Virtual Eye for the America’s Cup — says he’s “deeply disappointed” that his fellow New Zealander served his company with a breach of copyright notice that could “seriously impact the coverage of both the upcoming Prada Cup and the America’s Cup itself”.

In a response to Herald questions, Coutts said: “We are simply seeking to safeguard IP [intellectual property] that we invested millions of dollars to develop over the last decade.

“We prefer not to be forced to protect our rights via legal processes, but as with all copyrighted material, it must be licensed for use by commercial entities.

“We have requested that the current America’s Cup organisers either avoid infringement by revising their graphics, or pay an appropriate licence fee,” Coutts said.

Taylor says the two Coutts-led companies are asserting copyright based on imagery ARL created back in 1992 and that have been used in every America’s Cup since — including in 1995 when Coutts famously made “the America’s Cup, New Zealand’s Cup”.

“We have delivered those graphics for events where he has also raced against New Zealand, starting with him taking the Cup away from New Zealand with Alinghi (Switzerland) in 2003 and then winning it off Alinghi for BMW Oracle (USA) in 2010,” Taylor said.

It is understood Oracle Racing and SailGP believe intellectual property associated with the Animation Research graphics was transferred to the events’ organisers at prior America’s Cup regattas.

Oracle Racing and SailGP are at the centre of a rival hi-tech sailing series, spearheaded by billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Coutts, the most successful helmsman in America’s Cup history.

Their intention is to use the LiveLine graphics — for which they claim copyright — during the series.

Taylor confirmed to the Herald that he wrote to Coutts on December 7 last year detailing the technology Animation...