KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand were today maintaining a watching brief as the latest round of the courtroom battle over yachting's America's Cup went the way of Swiss defenders Alinghi.
New York Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn ruled that the 10-month build-up period for American syndicate Oracle's head-to-head challenge against Alinghi would begin from today.
That would make mid-March the earliest date for a rare Deed of Gift match over three races.
Cahn said it would be "inequitable" to deprive Alinghi of the full 10-month notice of challenge to prepare their boat.
He also said the venue should be the Spanish city of Valencia, where last year's regatta was held, or any other location Alinghi chose, provided Oracle were given six months' notice.
Oracle, representing San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, had wanted to race in October.
Team NZ had also wanted the match to be staged this year so that the America's Cup could return to its usual multi-challenger format as soon as possible.
A Team NZ spokesman said the syndicate didn't want to comment on the latest court decision, as the matter was still to be decided between Alinghi and Oracle.
Despite the Cahn's verdict, the legal battle between two syndicates with billionaire owners and skippered by New Zealanders Brad Butterworth (Alinghi) and Russell Coutts looks set to continue.
Alinghi's yacht club, Societe Nautique de Geneve, welcomed the decision, but SNG lead counsel Lucien Masmejan said several issues remained unresolved.
They included the "unclear and contradictory" description in Golden Gate's challenge certificate relating to the boat Oracle would be sailing.
Masmejan said the 10-month period should start when those issues were resolved.
As well, the Deed of Gift, the 19th Century document governing the America's Cup, prohibited racing in the Northern Hemisphere from November 1 to May 1.
"This means the match cannot take place before May 2009," Masmejan said.
Oracle spokesman Tom Ehman said his group's lawyers had not had time to study Cahn's ruling.
However, Oracle were pleased the judge had moved the process forward.
"It doesn't look like we got everything we wanted, but we got a firm date and six months' notice on the venue, which is good," Ehman said.
"Obviously we were hoping for October and now that he said March, we'll have to consider that and see what the implications are."
Oracle, owned by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison, are building a boat for their challenge, but will not say whether it's a catamaran or trimaran.
Alinghi, owned by Swiss biotech tycoon Ernesto Bertarelli, want to race in July next year, saying they need the proper amount of time to build their 27.5m multihull boat.
The dispute began last July, a week after Alinghi retained international sport's oldest trophy with a 5-2 victory over Team NZ.
Alinghi announced they had chosen a newly formed Spanish yacht club to serve as Challenger of Record, or challengers' representative, in negotiations over the next multi-syndicate regatta.
But Golden Gate took legal action, saying the Spanish club was a sham and the Swiss were trying to tilt the rules in their favour.
Cahn decided in November that Golden Gate was the valid Challenger of Record.
Since Oracle and Alinghi could not agree on terms for a traditional regatta, a Deed of Gift match was the next option.
Last month, Alinghi appealed against Cahn's ruling that Golden Gate was the Challenger of Record and the issue will be heard by the New York Supreme Court's appellate division on June 5.
- NZPA
