North Sails takes Team New Zealand to court The dispute centres on who should be credited for a sail patent

In the days leading up to the Naples Preliminary Regatta (24–27 September), on the road to the 2027 America’s Cup, the dispute between Emirates Team New Zealand and North Sails has reached the courts. The sailmaker has filed a lawsuit in the United States against the defending champions and their designer, Stephen Collie. At issue is who invented a patented sail structure for the AC75s, the boats that will compete in next year’s America’s Cup.

The lawsuit is the latest development in a long-running dispute. In July 2025, North Sails challenged the patent before the US Patent and Trademark Office, claiming that Team New Zealand had patented ideas developed by the Connecticut-based company as its own. The challenge was rejected in January 2026. In an official statement released on 18 September, the New Zealand team said it “absolutely disputes the claims”.

The patent, titled “Sail structure” (US 12,110,089), was granted to Team New Zealand in 2024, with Stephen Collie named as its inventor. It describes a sail whose forward section, near the mast, is more elastic than the rest of its surface, allowing its shape to change under load.

North Sails’ allegations

According to North Sails, the key elements of the invention had previously been developed by its designer Matt Savage and shared with Team New Zealand during their collaboration. In the complaint filed on 15 September, the US company asks for Savage to be formally recognised as the inventor or a co-inventor, asserting its rights to the technology.

North Sails also claims that Team New Zealand is using its patents to threaten the sailmaker and its customers ahead of the 38th America’s Cup. The concern is that North Sails and the teams it supplies could be accused of using technology patented by Team New Zealand.

Team New Zealand’s response

In the official statement released on 18 September, CEO Grant Dalton calls the lawsuit “a spurious attempt by North Sails to intimidate and pressure” the team. He says North Sails had known about the patent for more than five years and had made the New Zealand team’s sails using the technology across several campaigns. Although it had previously challenged the patent in the United States, Dalton adds, North Sails had not raised the question of ownership at the time.

Dalton also says North Sails had contractually acknowledged Team New Zealand’s ownership of the patent. In his account, the US lawsuit is a response to arbitration proceedings launched in New Zealand over the alleged misuse of the technology.

Dalton raises another point in the statement. Oakley Capital, the owner of North Sails, has acquired a majority stake in GB1, the British team that will challenge the New Zealanders in the next America’s Cup. According to Dalton, GB1 had sought a change to the competition rules that would allow it to use the patented technology.

The lawsuit was filed with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. After years of working together, North Sails and Team New Zealand now find themselves in a legal dispute marked by allegations on both sides. In 2017, the sailmaker contributed to the development of the AC75 sail design, and in 2021 it was the team’s official sail supplier for the America’s Cup.