Interestingly, if Kirby does win the case, I guess boats built after the builder contracts were terminated will be counterfeit (as per the BK submissions). I would suspect that a court award of the royalty payments would not be adequate as the boats would still have been built (and sold) without the required BK contract; so either a retrospective builder contract would need to be put in place or people buying boats after builder contract termination will not have legal Lasers and will need to seek replacement legal boats from whoever they purchased the boats from (who in turn can pursue their supplier who can utlimately then pursue the ILCA/ISAF). So it could get even worse if it does go to court.
I think the ILCA/ISAF handled things badly in that their actions have just prolonged a situation rather than forcing a resolution. All parties waited for ages whilst the ILCA vote took place. And then, the ILCA/ISAF continuing to issue plaques allowed LPE to continue, ignoring the problem ('cos at least they had some money coming in), so things just went on, more questionable boats built and sold, etc. so now when it does get to court the monies involved are that much higher and the potential numbers of counterfeit boats is higher. Leave things as they were (and stopping issuing plaques) would have forced LPE into a bit of a corner in that they would have owned something they were making no money from (and was probably costing them as well) and they would have been a lot more interested in finding a solution.
I wonder what the ILCA/ISAF will do now. I assume that when BK informed them of the termination of builder contracts and instructed them to stop issuing plaques they took legal advice in deciding to continue. So maybe they have some recourse to their own legal advisors if things are found against them? I do wonder what they will do now. Will they stop issuing plaques now they appreciate that BK is not just letting things drift forever?
The thing is, as with 3rd party gear not being acceptable in Open Meetings/Regattas, so counterfeit boats are not acceptable. So, when some hot-shot turns up and wins a regatta in a new boat next week, will he be subject to protest on the basis he is sailing a counterfeit boat ? In fact, should medals from the 2012 Olympics be "recalled" because the races used counterfeit boats ? (OK, unlikely to happen but who knows - 'cos if I raced a regatta using a Rooster sail I would not be placed in the results).
Ian