The lengthy legal tussle between America’s Cup sailing teams BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi over who has the right to challenge Alinghi for the next Cup appears to have taken a decisive tack in BMW Oracle's favor.
On Thursday, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that BMW Oracle, the American-based syndicate that represents Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco, should be restored as challenger of record for the oldest major trophy in international sport.
The verdict, a unanimous 6-0 decision, overturned a ruling last year that would have allowed the Spanish-based Club Nautico Español de Vela, or CNEV, to remain Alinghi's primary challenger.
The decision opens the way for an unconventional Cup at some stage in the next year in which BMW Oracle and Alinghi could face each other in a best-of-three regatta in massive, new-age catamarans. But there is also the possibility that Alinghi’s owner, Ernesto Bertarelli, and Larry Ellison, his counterpart at BMW Oracle, could, with the legal situation resolved, resume negotiations and agree on terms for a conventional multi-challenger regatta to be staged in 2010 or 2011.
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