New graphics by Animation Research will be used during today's Prada Cup races after a copyright dispute. Photo / Supplied
New graphics by Animation Research will be used during today's Prada Cup races after a copyright dispute. Photo / Supplied
There will be no augmented reality graphics projected on to today's America's Cup broadcast images after a copyright stoush over the technology has led to a protest by the provider.
Sir Ian Taylor has decided to pull his company's Virtual Eye Live AR feature, which measures the distance between competing boats, for today's Prada Cup event.
The graphics protest will only last for today.
Taylor's Animation Research company will not provide the technology to media production companies Circle-O and Riedel Communications for the broadcast after they paid a copyright fee to Sir Russell Coutts' competing SailGP company to continue to use the technology.
Coutts' SailGP took legal steps earlier this week to stop Sir Ian Taylor's Animation Research graphics being used for the Prada Cup and the America's Cup.
Coutts claimed his company owned copyright over the superimposed LiveLine graphics that are overlaid on live footage of racing action.
Sir Russell Coutts. Photo / Getty Images
In an attempt to resolve the dispute, Circle-O and Riedel Communications yesterday decided to pay an appropriate IP licensing fee to Coutts' SailGP to settle the dispute.
But Sir Ian Taylor was not happy with this pay out - insisting SailGP has no right to be paid for the technology.
"We have been forced to take this step, which will only apply to today's racing, because of the deal that Riedel and CircleO did with the Sir Russell Coutts owned company, SailGP, where they have agreed to pay a License Fee to SailGP for graphics we totally dispute that they own the copyright to," Taylor said today in a written statement.
"The graphics that were seen on the coverage yesterday are totally original works of ARL and we reject entirely the decisions taken by Riedel and CircleO to pay Sir Russell to give us the rights to use them."
"We only found out about the deal when I was contacted by media yesterday asking me about a press release from SailGP that they had come to an agreement with Riedel and CircleO that they had withdrawn their claims because Riedel had paid Sail GP a license fee and in return Riedel and CircleO would now partner with Russell on the SailGP sailing event Russell set up after Emirates Team New Zealand won the Cup off him in Bermuda."
"The one thing I agree with Sir Russell is that everyone has the right to protect their intellectual property. We invested $1million on developing this solution, and when you add that to the millions we have spent over the past 30 years, we have a lot to defend."
Sir Ian Taylor, the founder of Animation Research. Photo / Dean Purcell
Initial High Court action threat
The Herald this week broke the news that Coutts' sailing interests Oracle Racing and F50 League LLC, which trades as SailGP, had alleged copyright infringement over graphics used by Taylor's Animation Research Limited (ARL) during racing last month.
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 Animation Research has been contracted to provide.
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.
But Taylor disputes the claim. He says the two Coutts-led companies are asserting copyright based on imagery ARL created in 1992 and that has been used in every America's Cup since then - including in 1995 when Coutts famously made "the America's Cup, New Zealand's Cup".
"We have delivered those graphics for events where he has also raced against New Zealand, starting with him taking the Cup away from New Zealand with Alinghi (Switzerland) in 2003 and then winning it off Alinghi for BMW Oracle (USA) in 2010," Taylor said.
Taylor, who was recently knighted for his work, 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 because they did it first then we should try to 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, including an outer course boundary border, the ability to display written material within the border, and a grid under parallel lines to reflect the direction and distance of boats to the next mark.
