Cup graphics fight may not be over

The copyright battle over America’s Cup broadcast graphics between sailing legend Sir Russell Coutts and New Zealand businessman Sir Ian Taylor appears set to continue, despite claims of an agreement.

Coutts’ companies, Oracle Racing and SailGP, filed copyright infringement claims against Sir Ian Taylor’s company Animation Research Ltd (ARL) and two other companies before Christmas, in relation to graphics ARL developed for live America’s Cup racing broadcasts. Taylor has refuted the claim, saying he holds the original copyright to the technology.

A statement released by a spokeswoman for Coutts yesterday said: ‘‘The copyright dispute between SailGP, and Riedel Communications and Circle-O, which are responsible for broadcasting the upcoming Prada Cup and America’s Cup, has been successfully resolved.

‘‘Riedel Communications and Circle-O have agreed to pay an appropriate IP licensing fee, and they look forward to continuing to work with SailGP in delivering world-leading broadcast technology to sailing fans around the globe.’’

Taylor said yesterday that ARL had not agreed to anything, and had not even seen the agreement mentioned by Riedel.

However, yesterday’s broadcast was to proceed with graphics. ‘‘The stuff we’re putting on air today is not under that agreement,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘We’re giving the licence to Team NZ and the challengers of record to use our software so it doesn’t disrupt what viewers see.’’