Lasers or « ILCA Equipment » at the 2024 Paris Olympics?
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| Lasers, ILCA Dinghies or other "ILCA Equipment" at the 2024 Olympics? |
« The Board recommended to World Sailing's Council to confirm the appointment of the Laser as the Equipment for the Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy under the normal arrangements for an electronic vote » states the World Sailing communiqué.
The communiqué by the Laser class ILCA states for its part that « World Sailing Council Unanimously Approves ILCA Equipment for 2024 Olympics. »
There is only one mention of the Laser in the ILCA communiqué, but it’s in relation to the class, not the boat: « In May 2019, the World Sailing Council approved the re-selection of the Laser class for both Men’s and Women’s single handed equipment. »
As discussed in previous articles, the International Laser Class Association intends to organize official class regattas where not only Lasers but also boats bearing different names, such as « ILCA Dinghy, » participate.
As we reported, a prelude of such mix of boats occurred at the Laser Radial and 4.7 Youth Worlds in Kingston, Canada, where some 80 Australian ILCA Dinghies took part in the competition, with the whole equipment being ILCA Dinghies, except the sails.
While World Sailing has confirmed the « Laser » for Paris 2024, the ILCA Laser class is now referring to the approval of « ILCA Equipment» by World Sailing.
This is a bit of a new twist, as the new arrangements approved by the Laser class, thanks to its contentious "Survey Monkey Vote" and then presented for approval by World Sailing, allow for the boat to bear any brand names.
World Sailing Council members voted for the Laser, but they actually voted for the ILCA Dinghy et al - et al meaning here possible other names.
This is a bit like the youth Laser Radial sailors who were asked in Kingston to vote for the Laser to remain Olympic, but were actually voting in favor of the ILCA Dinghy.
It’s not just the « ILCA Dinghy » name that may be used as new name for the boat, as new builders are supposed to be approved and may chose other names than the ILCA Dinghy or the Laser.
We previously predicted this emergence of "Fake Lasers" or, in French, "Faux Lasers," and the commercial opportunities associated with those - the "FRAND" requirements imposed by World Sailing having been exploited to shake up the distribution of commercial interests behind Laser / ILCA Dinghy sailing.
Remember, the Laser class ILCA holds the « ILCA » trademark for the boat since last year, and Australian builder PSA has embraced it, now exporting "ILCA Dinghies" outside where it controls the Laser trademark (essentially Australia and New Zealand), but other builders may in theory choose other names.
The Laser name and logo, a property of LaserPerformance / Velum in most of the world, are obviously available, but they involve a licence agreement and trademark fees payable to the trademark owner.
All of this suggests that the trademark issues associated with the boat are far from resolved and may be subject to litigitation in the near future. And if the ongoing Kirby Torch litigation is an indicator, this may takes several years and considerable financial resources to resolve.
Many key issues highlighted in the World Sailing Equipment Committee report, which recommended the RS Aero and not the Laser, also remain unaddressed, including:
- lack of consistency of equipment among builders;
- too high tolerances in the Laser Building Manual;
- too lax controls of the builders.
There is a possible equipment arms race that may be emerging, with several builders now expected to compete in the same jurisdictions. Top sailors are expected to seek the fastest boat, or the boat that is perceived as being the fastest.
This is something that occurred only infrequently in the past, but which already jeopardized the one-design character of the boat, when the Aussie builder produced non-compliant, faster boats.
LaserPerformance’s factory in England, which was producing over 80% of the world’s production before being « terminated » by ILCA on March 27, was inspected on August 10.
As over a month has elapsed, it’s unclear why LaserPerformance hasn’t been reinstated yet as an official builder.
The Lasers produced by the company don’t seem to have changed; boats with new World Sailing plaques were provided by LaserPerformance for the World Sailing Youth Worlds in Poland.
As covered by Sailing Illustrated, the legal issues associated with the Laser design rights, formerly held by Bruce Kirby, and now by Global Sailing, remain unresolved - as litigation started some 5 years ago in the context of the « Kirby Torch » attempted name change is still ongoing.
What’s next? As the German magazine ZegelReported indicated, it’s hard to believe this ongoing dispute over the boat’s name(s) has no serious legal implications.
It’s likely that there won’t be any significant legal developments until the reinstatement of LaserPerformance as a builder, something that is anticipated yet remains uncertain.
In a related development, LaserPerformance started promoting online its « ARC » rigs, developed by Doyle Sails. This suggests an upcoming « battle of the rigs » with the Laser class top leadership and the Aussie builder, both strongly supporting the « C » rigs.
WORLD SAILING COMMUNIQUÉ
World Sailing's Council confirms Laser as Paris 2024 Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy
September 10, 2019
At World Sailing's 2019 Mid-Year Meeting in London, Great Britain, World Sailing's Council voted to retain the Equipment for the Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition.
The World Sailing Board informed Council in May 2019 that it would only continue contractual discussions until 1 August 2019 with the selected Equipment.
The International Laser Class Association (ILCA) signed the required Olympic Classes Contract by this deadline and submitted additional information and clarification about the arrangements for the Class.
Following ILCA clarification, the Board recommended to World Sailing's Council to confirm the appointment of the Laser as the Equipment for the Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy under the normal arrangements for an electronic vote.
This was approved by Council (30 in favour, 0 against, 0 abstain - 30 participated).
https://www.sailing.org/news/89011.php
INTERNATIONAL LASER CLASS ASSOCIATION COMMUNIQUÉ
World Sailing Council Unanimously Approves ILCA Equipment for 2024 Olympics
September 11, 2019
The World Sailing Council approved the International Laser Class Association’s bid to be retained as equipment for the 2024 Paris Olympics, with 30 voting in favor, 0 against and 0 abstaining.
In May 2019, the World Sailing Council approved the re-selection of the Laser class for both Men’s and Women’s single handed equipment, but on condition of meeting WS contractual conditions including the adoption of a FRAND licensing policy for builders. A deadline of 1 August was set for concluding contract discussions.
ILCA signed the required Olympic Classes Contract by this deadline and submitted additional information and clarification about the arrangements for the Class as requested by World Sailing.
On behalf of ILCA, President Tracy Usher “wishes to thank World Sailing for reaffirming its decision of last May. ILCA would also like to thank its builders, the World Council and the countless volunteers who worked hard over the Summer to create a plan to comply with World Sailing’s Olympic Equipment Policy and to classs members for voting to affirm a major piece of this plan which allowed us to submit the proper documentation by the deadline.
We look forward to the implementation of this plan as we look forward to the Paris Olympics in 2024!”
https://www.laserinternational.org/blog/2019/09/11/world-sailing-council-unanimously-approves-ilca-equipment-for-2024-olympics/
