KEY POINTS:
The 2009 America's Cup may be in jeopardy after Alinghi refused to settle a row with rival BMW Oracle yesterday, sending the case into a potentially drawn-out court battle.
The standoff between the teams and their billionaire owners has dragged on since Alinghi won the America's Cup in
July and set rules for the next one which BMW Oracle argued were unfairly slanted in the Swiss team's favour.
Both sides have taken conciliatory steps but Alinghi eventually rejected BMW Oracle's proposal to resolve the wrangle and to publish the rules governing the design of the new high-tech boats.
"This is a simple question of transparency," said Tom Ehman, a spokesman for BMW Oracle, bankrolled by software mogul Larry Ellison.
"In this light it lacks credibility for [Alinghi] to blame anyone other than themselves for the ongoing delay and any decision to postpone the next event."
Alinghi's event organiser ACM this month said it could delay the 33rd America's Cup, due to be raced in Valencia, Spain, in 2009, because of the uncertainty hanging over the lawsuit.
Not knowing when or if racing will finally start has made it difficult for ACM and teams to sign sponsors and only five teams, including Team New Zealand, have challenged for the next regatta.
It is also sapping momentum built up this year in Valencia, which welcomed thousands of visitors to its purpose-built port to be part of the glamorous, high-tech yachting lifestyle and get into sailing races that have traditionally been seen as elite, not mainstream, sport.
The main entertainment now is the clash of personalities, with Alinghi's owner and biotech scion, Ernesto Bertarelli, accusing Ellison of trying to win sailing's most coveted prize in the courtroom having twice failed on the water.
BMW Oracle said the other challengers had indicated that Alinghi's refusal to publish the design rule was because Bertarelli was "personally opposed to it".
The challengers, from South Africa, Spain, Germany, Britain and New Zealand, all supported BMW Oracle's proposal, the US team said.
The case will now be heard in the New York Supreme Court tomorrow.
It could then take a while for lawyers to discuss the various strands of argument and compare Alinghi's rules with the spirit of the "Deed of Gift" which has governed the Cup since 1887.