New graphics after knights’ clash
Animation team working on America’s Cup coverage say they’ll be using different tools for Prada Cup today
New graphics are set to be used today during the broadcast of the first Prada Cup races after a copyright stoush between Sir Ian Taylor and Sir Russell Coutts.
The Herald this week broke the news that Coutts’ sailing interests Oracle Racing and F50 League LLC, which trades as SailGP, had alleged graphics used by Taylor’s Animation Research Limited (ARL) during racing last month had infringed copyright.
The graphics allegedly used were what is known as the LiveLine system of augmented reality broadcasting, which were overlaid on live footage of racing action.
The Coutts-led companies threatened High Court action if the graphics were used in broadcasting the 36th America’s Cup, which ARL has been contracted to provide for.
The most successful helmsman in America’s Cup history said he was wishing to “safeguard the IP [intellectual property] that we invested millions of dollars to develop over the last decade” but preferred not to be forced to use the courts.
“We have requested that the current America’s Cup organisers either
This is new so will be an original work by ARL. Sir Ian Taylor, ARL
avoid infringement by revising their graphics, or pay an appropriate licence fee,” Coutts said.
Taylor, recently knighted for his work, said ARL’s team had been revising its graphics up until yesterday. He said he was yet to be contacted by Coutts after filing a response to his claims.
“Although we don’t believe you can copyright a ribbon effect on the water with writing on it we have introduced our 3D panels that rise vertically out of the water, which we can rotate if we want, to make sure that the sponsors’ brands are fully optimised. This is new so will be an original work by ARL,” he said.
“If Russell, Oracle Racing and SailGP still believe they have a right to claim this copyright . . . we should try and get that sorted quickly so the viewer isn’t compromised and these teams can give us the exciting race coverage that we have already seen coming out of these remarkable racing machines.”
The LiveLine system is protected under a US patent and the Coutts-led companies have asserted copyright over certain elements.