By HELEN TUNNAH
THE PROSECUTION
The accusers:
Team New Zealand, Prada, Team Dennis Conner (OneWorld's current opponent)
When Team New Zealand splintered under a barrage of overseas pay offers, new syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg's thoughts turned to confidential computer files.
Much of the design information for Team New Zealand's winning America's Cup yachts, NZL57 and
NZL60, was on laptop files now spread around the world with a number of challenging syndicates - including OneWorld.
In an email, Schnackenberg urged all former Team New Zealand designers and sailors to bring back their laptops to be purged, and hoped for the best.
Only a handful of the dozens who left obliged.
Team NZ chief executive Ross Blackman revealed the extent to which his team's design information was unaccounted for in an affidavit to the America's Cup arbitration panel.
And principal designer Mike Drummond and designer and IT expert Nicholas Holroyd swore affidavits which raised questions about how much material OneWorld had.
Holroyd said at least two former Team NZ crew, Ian Mitchell and Jeremy Scantlebury, may have had deck layout plans which gave detailed information about NZL60.
But he and Drummond stop short of saying the material was ever used.
The secrets they believed OneWorld may have seen included detailed information on where the rig, rudder and keel were positioned, as well as specifications about the construction of NZL60.
Team NZ says the affidavits of Drummond, Blackman, Holroyd and other team members support claims that OneWorld had "a considerable amount of confidential Team NZ design data".
Team NZ said "the disclosure from the OWC team members has not been a full and complete disclosure of the facts.
"The question remains as to whether there are other breaches of the protocol which are currently not before the panel for consideration."
Team NZ asked that OneWorld's design drawings be checked by the event's technical director, who would be able to study the secret measurement certificates of the new OneWorld boats and NZL60.
This has not been done.
Neither has the panel considered a lengthy affidavit from Sean Reeves, the man who sparked the controversy.
A former Team NZ rules adviser who helped set up OneWorld, Reeves has claimed the Seattle team's designs are based on Team NZ's work.
He has been in a long-running legal battle with OneWorld, and is now bound by a United States court order which prevents him speaking about the dispute.
Prada and Team Dennis Conner are using that gagging order to try to slip the case before the arbitration panel again.
They tried to get Reeves to talk to them, but he refused saying he did not want to breach the constraining order.
So as a last resort, the teams approached Team NZ, which on Sunday handed over a 46-page Reeves affidavit they had kept secret for months.
It outlines significant accusations against OneWorld and former Team NZ staff now with it.
Reeves says it was clear from the start of the Seattle campaign that Team NZ and Prada design information was being used, and that many on the team knew this.
He repeats earlier claims that OneWorld's head designer, Laurie Davidson, used NZL60 line drawings in the design package he sold OneWorld for US$1.5 million.
Team Dennis Conner and Prada are now asking the panel to rehear the OneWorld case, saying the Reeves material is new evidence and shows OneWorld misled the panel.
What they told the panel:
Nicholas Holroyd, Team NZ IT expert and designer: OneWorld admitted having a deck layout, but said it provided very little information.
Holroyd said OneWorld could not have had a general deck layout showing only the cockpit area.
After auditing his team's files, Holroyd said such a file simply did not exist in isolation from other data.
He added the deck drawings were "to scale, allowing a great deal of information to be ... measured from them".
Mike Drummond, Team NZ principal designer: OneWorld design member and former Team NZ member Ian Mitchell had downloaded a Team NZ design file from his laptop, Drummond said.
Drummond said a deck layout plan would contain "a huge amount of very accurate information, and is the only drawing to integrate all features of the yacht".
Drummond also claimed former Team NZ designer Laurie Davidson attended at least one design meeting after the end of the 2000 Cup, to talk about a hull programme.
Sean Reeves, former OneWorld operations manager: Reeves claims Davidson based his OneWorld design package on Team NZ drawings.
He says he found an original copy of a Team NZ deck design at OneWorld's base.
He said OneWorld had actively copied files from Prada's 2000 sail programme.
Reeves said the first tank-test model built by OneWorld was a scale model of NZL60.
THE DEFENCE
OneWorld admit they did have design information from both Prada and Team New Zealand but claim the material was not used.
The Seattle Yacht Club's syndicate said any information they had from Team New Zealand, Prada and the former syndicate America True was of limited or no use.
OneWorld admitted to the panel it may have broken Cup rules by having measurement certificates for NZL57 and NZL60, carbon fibre certificates and some sail and mast design material from both Team New Zealand and Prada.
If used as a package, this information could have allowed OneWorld to kickstart theirnew America's Cup campaign.
A new syndicate, OneWorld were effectively setting up their campaign from scratch. Team NZ have said the data OneWorld obtained might have allowed the Seattle team to bypass years of research and development.
Things turned sour for OneWorld last year after the departure of their former operations manager, Sean Reeves, a former Team NZ rules adviser.
After being tipped off by rivals Oracle, OneWorld launched legal action alleging Reeves had tried to sell their design secrets. He responded by saying he took nothing, and that OneWorld had no ownership of their designs anyway, because they were based on Team NZ work.
Amid the furore, OneWorld went to the America's Cup Arbitration Panel and admitted having a number of documents they should not have.
Some were held by former Team NZ and Prada staff. But OneWorld insisted the material was minor, and that whatever they had was never used.
Their head designer, Laurie Davidson, admitted having Team NZ measurement certificates and tank testing photographs. But he denied claims that his drawings for OneWorld were based on NZL60.
Another former Team New Zealand designer, Ian Mitchell, admitted having copied a deck layout plan, but said there was no detail or measurements on it.
OneWorld also told the panel they had found files on Prada's 2000 sail programme on their base after a former Prada employee who had switched camps left their team.
They say the material was quickly sealed and taken from the base, and would be returned to Prada if asked for.
OneWorld said their designers had never looked at the files.
OneWorld also argued, and most rivals agree, that designers and others will carry with them unwritten knowledge of design and performance about boats they have previously worked on.
"It is also inevitable that designers and others will, either consciously or subconsciously, make use of their knowledge when developing or sailing any new ACC yacht."
In August, the Arbitration Panel ruled OneWorld had broken the Cup rules, and that Davidson, Mitchell and another colleague, Wayne Smith, all had Team NZ data.
But, announcing a one-point penalty against OneWorld in the challenger series, the panel said it was not an investigative body, so accepted OneWorld's word the material was not used.
What they told the panel:
Laurie Davidson, OneWorld head designer, former Team NZ co-designer: Davidson was hired by OneWorld soon after the last cup and asked to deliver a package of eight line drawings for yachts.
He has consistently denied allegations that at least one was a copy of NZL60.
But he has admitted having some measurement certificates for NZL57 and NZL60 at OneWorld. He says he did not use the information, which was dated, in his new work.
Davidson also admitted leaving tank-testing photographs from Team NZ at OneWorld's base, where they may have been seen by other crew. He later returned them to his former employers.
In an affidavit, Laurie Davidson said: "Although I have in my personal possession measurement certificates for NZL57 and NZL60, I have not ever referred to or otherwise used those certificates in connection with my design work for OWC.
"My design work for OWC's two new yachts was done without reference to any plans, drawings or other written information about the design of any other America's Cup Class yachts."
Ian Mitchell, OneWorld designer, ex-Team New Zealand: Mitchell admits he did refer to a deck layout plan depicting NZL60. But he said the plan was used only as an initial reference point for a group discussion, and "did not show dimensions or details such as the construction of the deck or how the various fittings and pieces of gear were attached to it ... only the general positioning of the fittings and gear used on NZL60 in the America's Cup match".
Mitchell admitted he downloaded a Team NZ file to generate the deck drawing.
"On the drawing I made, and later printed, there were no dimensions, no structural data and no under-deck details.
"Nor have I used any such information, or any other Team New Zealand data, in any of my design work for OWC," he said.
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
By HELEN TUNNAH
THE PROSECUTION
The accusers:
Team New Zealand, Prada, Team Dennis Conner (OneWorld's current opponent)
When Team New Zealand splintered under a barrage of overseas pay offers, new syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg's thoughts turned to confidential computer files.
Much of the design information for Team New Zealand's winning America's Cup yachts, NZL57 and
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