KEY POINTS:
A New York judge is expected to give his verdict in the next two to four weeks on the America's Cup spat between defenders Alinghi and American challengers Oracle Racing.
Justice Herman Cahn heard Oracle's lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court today and reserved his decision.
Tom
Ehman, spokesman for Oracle's home yacht club, Golden Gate in San Francisco, said he understood a verdict could be handed down within the coming month.
"We are pleased Justice Cahn said he would settle it soon," he said.
"We all understand that to be in the next two to four weeks."
Oracle are unhappy with the protocol for the next cup regatta in Valencia in 2009, saying the rule changes contained in it would give Alinghi an unfair advantage.
They have questioned the right of a newly-formed Spanish yacht club, Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV), to be the challenger of record and negotiate the protocol with the Swiss defenders.
The stand-off pitched two teams headed by billionaire owners - Alinghi's Ernesto Bertarelli and Oracle's Larry Ellison - and last-minute attempts to resolve the dispute outside court failed.
An Alinghi statement said Cahn allowed the parties to argue their positions, while focusing on CNEV's legitimacy under the Deed of Gift, a document that has governed the cup since 1887.
It said Cahn indicated that he would issue a written decision in the coming weeks.
"We are happy with the way the hearing went and look forward to a result," Alinghi's general counsel, New Zealander Hamish Ross, said.
"The argument is a technical one. It is a straight out legal interpretation of the Deed of Gift."
Oracle was the challenger of record, or representative of the challenger's fleet, for the last America's Cup and worked closely with Alinghi in the lead-up to that regatta.
But since Alinghi retained the cup by completing a 5-2 victory over Team New Zealand in July, Oracle have raised various objections to the new protocol.
America's Cup Management, the organising body set up by Alinghi, said this month that the legal action could force a delay to 2009 event.
It said the uncertainty raised by the lawsuit had made it difficult for ACM and teams to sign up sponsors.
So far, only five syndicates, including Team NZ, have lodge official challenges.
- NZPA