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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 542 - April 5, 2000SOBSTAD PRESS RELEASEThe Sobstad Corp. announced that the federal court in Hartford, Connecticut released an opinion and order finding that Windway Capital Corp., parent of North Sails Group, Inc., and North were infringing Sobstad's '639, '953, and '205 structural sail technology patents used in high-end racing sails. Windway owns a controlling interest (81%) in and substantially finances the operations of North. The court ordered that Windway/North must immediately discontinue all new production of North's infringing 3DL sails. These sails are used in America's Cup races, grand prix events, and yacht racing at all levels. These sails are now made at North's plant in Minden, Nevada. "I am very pleased with this ruling", said inventor Peter Conrad, president of Sobstad. "It has been a long, arduous battle by our small company against the world's largest sailmaker, but this is a decisive result. It is important for the sailing world to understand, as the court found, that Sobstad pioneered the revolutionary structural sail technology used in high-tech racing sails. It is our technology; Windway and North had absolutely no right to use it. Sobstad has always believed that its patented structural sail technology is the finest in the world and is exclusive to Sobstad." Sobstad was represented by lead counsel J. Alan Galbraith and David C. Kiernan of Williams & Connolly LLP in its patent litigation against Windway, North and the individual defendants. Joshua Heinz and William Gilberti of Devorsetz, Stinziano, Gilberti, Heinz & Smith of Syracuse, New York represented Sobstad as business counsel. In addition to ordering no further manufacture of infringing sails, the court also ordered that Windway/North pay Sobstad a 7% royalty and compounded interest due to past infringing sales. This includes all sales of North's extensively advertised 3DL sail. The Court found that the parties responsible for payment were not only Windway and North, but also Terry Kohler, CEO of Windway, as well as two of North's officers, Tom Whidden and Jay Hansen. Mr. Kohler belongs to the Wisconsin Kohler family; he resides in Sheboygan and in a well-known figure in the sailing world. The Court is further requiring that Windway/North provide detailed information on infringing sails' revenues to determine the amount of royalty payment and interest. This information must be provided by April 28, 2000. Sobstad sued Windway and North in July 1992. Sobstad contended that the 3DL sail had all elements contained in its pioneering "Airframe" patents. Windway/North denied that the 3DL sail had two elements required by the patents, panels and structural members. They asserted (as North advertises) that the 3DL sail was a one-piece sail, with no panels. The Court agreed with Sobstad that the sail was made from panels. As for the structural members, the Court noted that "the critical features of the patents at issue are the structural members following the load lines that go from corner to corner of the sail. Because this is the principal feature of the Conrad invention, almost all of the realizable profit made by North on its sales of 3DL sails is attributable to the patents at issue." Accordingly, the Court concluded that the 3DL sails literally infringe the Conrad patents. Alan Galbraith, trial counsel for Sobstad, added that "I too am thrilled by the result. The consequences should be very severe when, as in the case, the dominant competitor has chosen to ignore pioneering patents." Mr.Galbraith further stated: "I respectfully disagree with the Court's conclusion that defendants did not willfully infringe the Conrad patents. This is a most important issue. In my opinion the evidence clearly showed that defendants knew that the 3DL sail had panels and also structural members exactly as called for in the patent claims. The patent appeals court in Washington, D.C.. is sometimes in the better position to assess that infringement was willful, and this would seem to be one of those cases." A federal court can award up to three times actual damages as well as attorney fees upon a willful infringement. -- http://www.sobstad.com/trialrelease.htm MORE LAWSUIT STUFF * For those of you who love legalize and enjoy digging into the details, the Sobstad / North Sails court order is now online - all 29 pages of it: http://www.sailingsource.com/features/completedecision.html * UK Sailmakers -- which has held a license for patents from Sobstad since 1987 and supported Sobstad's lawsuit -- has a position paper online: http://www.uksailmakers.com/3dl.html * The judge in this case has scheduled a hearing for 10 AM EDT Friday April 7 to hear North's Sails request to lift the injunction prohibiting further construction of 3DL sails. 'Butt will keep you informed SOLING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (Special report from Ed (Baird), Tom and Dean (Brenner) MURCIA, SPAIN - We had another good day on the race course today, finishing 2nd. The conditions were a bit different than yesterday's, and more difficult in some respects. We had less wind today, about 10 to 20 knots, but the wind shifts were significant. We worked hard in the 25 degree wind shifts on the first leg, and rounded the first mark in 4th place. On the first reach, we passed one boat, rounding the bottom of the triangle in 3rd. At the second weather mark, we had climbed to first place, which we held until shortly after the last mark, when fellow US Sailing team member, Jeff Madrigali of San Francisco, got around us in one of the many shifts. STANDINGS: 1. Ed, Tom and Dean (USA) 3 pts; 2. Jeff Madrigali (USA) 8 pts; 3. Hans Wallen (SWE) 8.7 pts; 4. Jesper Bank (DEN) 21.7 pts; 5. Phillipe Presti (FRA) 27 pts. Event website: http://www.soling.com/results/world00.htm LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From John Winder -- Just a small adjustment to the NORTH / SOBSTAD saga details: Peter Conrad and Tom Whidden bought Sobstad Sails from Larry Sobstad who was a well known local sailmaker in Saybrook, CT. What I don't recall is whether Peter and Tom worked for Larry prior to the purchase or whether they bought the business from Larry's estate when he died. -- From Chris Welsh -- Your readers might be interested to see the actual patents involved in the Sobstad/North 3DL case. IBM maintains a website where patents can be viewed: http://www.patents.ibm.com/home This is the North 3DL patent: http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?pn=US05097784 The North patent lists a number of Sobstad patents that preceded it. It appears to me that this one is the critical one: http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?&pn10=US04624205 The 'Buttheads will quickly find that patents make for challenging reading ... -- Marcia Everingham, US SAILING Race Management Committee (re Henry Moore's questions about the St. Petersburg Trophy) -- The article stating that any number of boats may be entered in a regatta to be eligible for the St. Petersburg is correct. Perhaps the article did not add that a minimum of 60% or 40 completed ballots *(which ever is fewer), must be returned. "Which ever is fewer" is the answer Henry Moore is seeking. --From Kristan McClintock -- After reading your comments on the Fort Worth BC, I had this vision of the curmudgeon standing in front of a microwave oven, saying, "Come on, hurry up!" while it warms his morning coffee. The folks in Fort Worth work hard and put on a terrific event. I, too, noticed that the results weren't up, so I just called and asked who won. Kinda old fashioned, and a little slower than checking the web, but it worked. Liz Baylis defeated Nancy Haberland in the finals. Women's Match Racing is developing quickly. We've had four new regattas come together in the space of two short months. At the moment, the sailors themselves are responsible for the development of the sport, and it's a huge job. We rely on volunteers like the folks in Fort Worth to put on regattas. And we're very grateful. Our main focus right now is to develop more regattas so more women can participate in this new Olympic event. As we grow, so too will our marketing savvy. Thanks for pointing out the importance of follow-up publicity; I'm sure we'll get better as we get more practice. We welcome any and all volunteers in this effort. -- From Mary Savage -- You're right Tom -- last week, the Fort Worth Boat Club put on a highly successful women's match race event, the Sundance Cup. The enthusiasm generated by clinic coach, Betsy Alison, was infectious and set the tone for the entire regatta. Every aspect of the event was superb --- from the generous hospitality of the Boat Club and housing hosts to the lively debriefs led daily by Betsy and chief umpire Tuna Wullschleger. A very sharp race management team led by Brad Davis didn't waste a minute in keeping the regatta moving. The learning curve on the part of all competitors was impressive indeed. By the time the finals were held, the sailors looked like old salts at the match racing game. Perhaps the organizers can be forgiven the failure to post the results on the web, since every other aspect of the regatta was handled so well. The first day's clinic ended on Tuesday just two hours before a tornado swept through downtown Fort Worth, causing great devastation and bringing torrential rains and damaging hail. Within an hour after everyone was ashore at the end of the series on Saturday, another torrential rain storm hit the area. In between those two "weather events," the racing, coaching, regatta organization, race committee work, and hospitality were extraordinary. At one point during a debrief, which was filled with eager questions, energy, and good-natured laughter, Tuna turned to me and said, "This is what it's all about." He was right. -- From Doran Cushing, editor, Southwinds Magazine (Edited extensively to comply with our 250-word limit) -- The question posed about the results of the Sundance women's match racing event in Texas (or the lack thereof) and Carol Newman Cronin's chide of the Star results which ignored the crew effort...both point out one of the problems with expanding coverage of the sport of sailing in local media. The information provided by yacht clubs (and at times, US Sailing) after a regatta is most frequently too late for local media deadlines, too confusing for non-sailors (newsroom sports clerks and editors) to decipher, grossly incomplete, filled with misspelled names, and printed in old DOS formats which make it difficult for even the participants to figure out line scores, throw outs, etc. With all the programmer genius which lives in the community of sailing around the U.S., most clubs are still stubbornly locked into using ancient DOS programs which chop off names because they're too long and the programs can't sort and arrange the scratch sheets and results with full information (such as boat name/type/skipper/home town/rating) in addition to elapsed and corrected times in PHRF or MORC events. Yacht clubs and local sailing associations are their own worst enemies when it comes to helping promote their events, particularly after the event is over. You can't give garbage to sports editors and expect them to decipher the information. I'd bet the running clubs and Little League groups do a better job than 99% of the sailing clubs in the U.S. when it comes to providing accurate, timely information. -- From J. Joseph Bainton (Reply to Carol Cronin) -- If you check the Star Class website, you will discover that the crew of every competitor is listed in respect of every event. Also, the Star Class routinely awards exactly (but for the engraving) the same keeper trophy to the crew as is awarded to the skipper. A number of classes such as the Etchells Class have borrowed heavily from the Star Class. That being said, it is truly a shame that no other class of which I am aware has emulated the Star Class' long tradition of recognizing the equal contribution of the crew to a winning effort. I agree with Carol that there is a general failure to award great crews such as she is the public accolades (and trophies) to which they are entitled. The Star Class is to my knowledge the only class not fairly subject to such criticism. CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: Perhaps Joseph should have checked the Star Class website before he wrote. The results for the just completed Spring Championship for the Western Hemisphere list only the skipper: http://www2.fgi.net/~iscyra/ -- From Doug Holm (In response to Carol Newman Cronin's comments in 'Butt 541) -- As a Star crew, skipper and supporter since 1964 (4637 first boat) and 1992 World Championship and 2000 Western Hemisphere regatta Chairman, I can assure you that Tom Olson, Magnus Liljedahl, Kai Bjorn and all other crews received equal accolades and trophies as their boat drivers at the awards dinner. In true St. Francis Yacht Club fashion they were also allocated unlimited adult beverage and double surf and turf dinners. We understand and cherish Star Class tradition. We apologize for our slip up on the Web site. SUNDANCE CUP (An exclusive report to Scuttlebutt from the winner of the event - Liz Baylis) Fort Worth Boat Club put on a great event, which was proceeded by a fantastic clinic run by Betsy Alison. The clinic ran for a day and a half with eight teams participating and wonderful conditions for sailing. (The tornado went through during the evening so it didn't interfere with our sailing.) After the two round robins, Nancy Haberland and her crew of Lisa Downey, Kathy Romanek, and Debbie McCay were leading with an impressive score of 15-1. Liz Baylis was in second with her crew of Melinda Erkelens, Aimee Hess, and Karina Vogen and a score of 12-4. Third and fourth were tied at 10-6 (or maybe 11-5) and those teams were Arabella Denvir with crew Cynthia Creamer, Jessamine Lewis, & Lori Preston and Lynette Edenfield with Sally Thornton, Vickie Dyer, & Bevin Bolt. (I did not see the results deeper than that, sorry.) The semi final pairings were Haberland (1) vs. Edenfield (4) and Baylis (2) vs. Denvir (3). Haberland won her semi 3-0 and Baylis won hers 3-0. This set up the finals of Haberland vs. Baylis and the petit finals of Denvir vs. Edenfield. The first race in the finals saw Haberland start with a penalty and Baylis went on to win. Haberland squared it up at 1-1 after the second race, then Baylis went on to win races 3 and 4 to win the title with a score of 3-1. The petit final was won by Denvir also with a score of 3-1. The added bonus of winning this regatta is the automatic invitation to the Grade 1 2000 BoatUS Santa Maria Cup and some financial support from the title sponsor, BoatUS. Our team had a great time at the event. The competition was great and you can definitely see the popularity and level of women's match racing in the U.S. increasing. And the Texan hospitality was wonderful! Definitely an event we'd like to go back to. -- Elizabeth F. Baylis HIGH COST OF WINNING While Team New Zealand yachties squabble with one another over the spoils of victory, Auckland local body leaders are weighing up the cost of hosting future America's Cup regattas. They are also trying to find a way to lock the Government into paying at least part of the running costs of challenges. Leading the charge is Auckland Mayor Christine Fletcher, who says city ratepayers have already spent enough by putting $120 million - which could have gone on improving public transport and drainage - into building the America's Cup village. "That money is spent," she said, "but whether you can justify ongoing expenditure for a facility that has national significance, that is the question." Mrs Fletcher's opposition to spending more Auckland money on yacht races seems to have wide support across the region. On Friday week, the region's mayors will receive a paper from the local body chief executives' forum outlining options that can be taken over the village. The CEOs' paper is expected to enthuse about the great success of the just-completed Cup series before turning to ways of preserving the village and making it financially practical for future events. Speed in reaching a regional consensus that can then be taken to the Government is important as the existing village structure is programmed to unravel on June 30. The artificial island goes back to Auckland City and the management agreement with America's Cup Village Ltd (ACVL) to manage various spaces comes to an end. The resource consents ACVL has for the bases and water space also start expiring. It is understood that Government agreement to contribute to the running of future Cup regattas is integral to any of the options. Also explored is the possibility of setting up a single Government agency to handle the bureaucratic problems faced by Cup syndicates and visitors. -- Brian Rudman, NZ Herald Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ac2000/ VOLVO OCEAN RACE * Roy Heiner will act as an ambassador in all of Volvo Netherland's sailing activities. Roy has signed a three-year contract with Volvo and received the keys of a brand new Volvo V70 Cross Country. As an ambassador, Roy will support Volvo in all sailing activities. * OCEANIC, the first all-Australian entry into the Volvo Ocean Race Round the World 2001-2002, is producing a IMAX film on the ultimate yacht race which will include crew selection, boat building, team testing and preparation and the race itself. * Quokka Sports has now taken over the technical management of the website for the Volvo Ocean Race and are gradually making some changes. Quokka will commence the management of the content from June this year: http://www.VolvoOceanRace.org THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS The only exercise some people get is pushing their luck. |
