America's Cup graphics: Sir Russell Coutts and Animation Research's Sir Ian Taylor in copyright dispute

The graphics used by Sir Ian Taylor's company Animation Research during the broadcast of the pre-Christmas racing.

Sir Russell Coutts' sailing interests have warned if graphics used by Sir Ian Taylor's Animation Research for pre-Christmas racing are used in broadcasting the 36th America's Cup, High Court action alleging breach of copyright will be filed.

The warning shot fired by two companies 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 is 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 Limited (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".

Sir Russell Coutts.

In a response to Herald questions, Sir Russell 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."

Taylor claims 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 then - 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.

Sir Ian Taylor, the founder of Animation Research. Photo / Supplied

Taylor confirmed to the Herald that he wrote to Coutts on December 7 last year detailing the technology Animation Research had been contracted to provide for broadcasting the 36th America's Cup.

Taylor says he approached Coutts late last year offering to share new technology ARL had developed. He says he didn't hear back until shortly before the first pre-Christmas regatta began, in which Coutts advised he had some concerns about ARL's plans, but did not share what those concerns were.

"The next we heard from him was a legal letter that arrived on December 23rd, just as we closed for Christmas, with a deadline of January 5th for our response. It would be fair to say it threw our plans into a bit of chaos."

Earlier on, the challenger of record initiated talks with Coutts, inquiring about acquiring a licence to use the LiveLine system in the upcoming America's Cup match series.

That was ultimately declined by the challenger.

The Coutts-led companies have said that if Animation Research wishes to continue to use what they claim are copied images they are willing to discuss suitable licence terms.

Taylor acknowledges the LiveLine graphics were a significant step forward.

Taylor claims what Coutts was creating was based entirely on the look of ARL's Virtual Eye 3D graphics that had been universally acknowledged as finally making sense of sailing.

"We were really chuffed that was the case because it was another step forward in telling the story of the America's Cup."

Taylor says for the 36th America's Cup, ARL adapted its own augmented reality graphics package that it used on other sports, including golf and cricket, to bring that technology to sailing as well.

"Technology has advanced significantly since 2017 in Bermuda."

Taylor says the upshot of the threatened action is that ARL will now bring forward ideas they were planning to launch around the America's Cup defence and apply them to the Prada Cup, which gets under way later this week in Auckland.

"It has meant having to bring some of the team in from their holidays but there was no way we wanted this Kiwi showcase out on the Waitematā to be compromised in any way," Taylor said.

"My genuine wish is that we can put this behind us and do something together that benefits this sport that Russell has contributed so much to."

Taylor and the two other parties sent a lengthy response to Oracle Racing and SailGP late on Friday after the original January 5 deadline was extended, but at this stage the matter has not been resolved.

What Sir Russell Coutts' companies claim
LiveLine is a system of augmented reality in race coverage, involving the use of course graphics overlaid on live footage of racing action on the water, supplemented by real time data acquired from various sources including sensors on boats.
The system is protected under a US patent and the Coutts-led companies have asserted copyright over an associated graphics package which has key elements: An outer course boundary border; the ability to display written material within the border; a ladder or grid and numbers placed under parallel lines to reflect the direction and distance of boats to the next mark.

Sir Ian Taylor's response
The Coutts-led companies are claiming copyright to three elements that we use in our Virtual Eye graphics package.
The first is an enclosed border, basically the field of play set by the rules, the second is a grid of parallel lines showing where the boats are in relation to each other and the marker buoys, and finally sponsorship names lying on the water.

Sir Ian Taylor says the concept Sir Russell Coutts is claiming copyright to is a concept that Animation Research shared with him in March 2010. Image / Supplied

We have been doing most of this since 1992 and have done so in every America's Cup since then.
Because of this threat we have had to bring our staff in off holiday to implement a new package that was going to be used for The Match [the America's Cup defence], but we will now introduce it for the Prada Cup instead so that the fans are not disadvantaged in any way by this action.