Racing: Sole rights to IP meets fierce resistance

New Racing Industry Bill covers legislative change to many facets of the industry. Photo / Trish Dunell

Just who owns the rights to New Zealand racing could be at the centre of a potentially heated debate sparked by the new Racing Industry Bill.

The bill, which had its first reading in Parliament last week, covers legislative change to many facets of the industry including one which many participants won't pay much attention to that could end up being its most important.

Under the bill the new administrative body TAB NZ, which will take over from RITA in July, will be granted exclusive rights to racing's intellectual property, which is used for all betting, form guides and broadcasting in New Zealand and Australia.

That means effectively it will own the rights to race fields, results, broadcast pictures and commentaries, basically everything else you need to bet on New Zealand racing.

Previously that IP has been controlled by each code and leased to the TAB, or RITA.

Under the new bill that IP will belong to TAB NZ — and NZ Thoroughbred Racing for one doesn't like it.

NZTR insiders have told the Herald they believe the three codes should control their own IP, pointing to tasks as simple as printing racebooks becoming more difficult if the information is actually controlled by TAB NZ.

NZTR will have meetings with its clubs and stakeholders next month to explain its reservations about facets of the bill and, in particular, the loss of code IP before making its formal submissions to the select committee in February.

NZTR says parts of the new bill stray too far from the code-led change initially suggested in the Messara report and give too much power to TAB NZ (on IP) and the Racing Minister (on track closures and futures).

But RITA counters that if the newly formed TAB NZ is to drive turnover as effectively as possible it needs control of the actual product, rather than just being a conduit for it.

In reality — and nobody is willing to discuss this publicly — control of the racing information also means control of any future joint ventures that require it.

If the codes own their own IP they could possibly enter into negotiations with overseas betting operators, effectively even bypassing TAB NZ. That is unlikely but not impossible and any such negotiations have the potential to fractionalise the industry and weaken TAB NZ's future negotiating clout for joint ventures and broadcasting rights.

The bill looks set to secure those powers for TAB NZ but not without a fight.