New Zealand businessman Sir Ian Taylor has pulled his company's graphics from televised America's Cup challenger series coverage to protest a copyright claim by Sir Russell Coutts.
In an row over copyright for the augmented reality graphics on Cup racing, Coutt's companies filed an infringement claim against Taylor's Animation Research Limited before Christmas.
Coutts, an Olympic gold medalist and America's Cup winner, believes his companies have owned the graphic patent since 2010.
But Taylor says he originally designed the graphics in 1992 and is the rightful owner, and has pulled his 'Virtual Eye Live' graphic feature in protest at Coutts.
He says his company "totally disputes" Coutts' claim.
The graphics in question cover such things as superimposed borders defining the racecourse, distance lines on the water and sponsorship names.
"There are elements of it that we have left, we just thought we'd use today to make it really clear to everyone what it is we deliver," Taylor says.
The 71-year-old was surprised to learn that the America's Cup production company had apparently settled with Coutts.
"We had expected the production company to actually join us in defending our case," Taylor says. "We found out yesterday, through the media, that basically they had done a deal with Russell Coutts and paid him a licence fee."
The graphic feature only was pulled from coverage and the Virtual Eye 3D graphics was still be delivered.
RNZ
