Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Craig McCaw's- OneWorld say spy saga is astern after court ruling

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 03:52:00 -0500

First Some Steals Secretes For OneWorld-

Then Someone Steals Secretes From OneWorld-

Is everyone a Crook at One World?

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OneWorld say spy saga  is astern after court ruling

28 September 2002

OneWorld have isolated their crew from a rancorous espionage
scandal involving a former team member and are glad to have
their America's Cup challenge out of the court room and on the
water, the United States syndicate said yesterday.

A US judge ruled on Thursday that former OneWorld lawyer and operations
manager Sean Reeves had breached a confidentiality agreement by keeping and
disclosing information about their team.

OneWorld, the Seattle-based syndicate of telecommunications investor Craig
McCaw, had accused Reeves of trying to sell design secrets to their rivals in an
espionage saga of claim and counter-claim that has dragged on for more than a
year.

Judge Barbara Rothstein's summary judgment in favour of OneWorld came after
McCaw's syndicate were penalised by an America's Cup arbitration panel last
month for having design secrets from three rival syndicates.

Skipper Peter Gilmour told reporters the syndicate had realised how much of a
distraction the issue was for the 36-member sailing team and decided to shield
them from it.

"We got to a point in about February or March of this year when we said we've
really got to separate the responsibilities here. The legal team took over that
responsibility and we said we've just to 100 per cent focus on the sailing," Gilmour
said.

"Initially it had been distracting... more than distracting, just disappointing would
be the reaction from a lot of the sailors who knew how this all evolved."
OneWorld's multinational team include members of several previous syndicates.
Reeves and principal boat designer Laurie Davidson were lured to OneWorld after
they helped Team New Zealand successfully defend the America's Cup in 2000.
Syndicates spend millions of dollars on boat design in the hope of gaining an
edge over rivals in highly competitive America's Cup racing and jealously guard
technical information about their boats.

Rothstein ruled that OneWorld were entitled to up to $314,000 in "liquidated
damages" and said that Reeves must pay their legal fees, estimated at up to
$US500,000 ($NZ1.076 million).

But Reeves, who denies trying to sell OneWorld design secrets, has vowed to
continue fighting his former employers.

"What this litigation is all about is gagging me," Reeves told The New Zealand
Herald newspaper.

"I am incredibly dangerous to these guys," he said.
OneWorld admitted to having confidential design documents from Team New
Zealand, Italian challenger Prada and former Cup syndicate America True, but the
panel accepted that they had not used the information in the design of their two
Cup boats.

The arbitration panel penalised OneWorld one point from the total they will accrue
during the Louis Vuitton Cup, the challengers series which begins in the Hauraki
Gulf off Auckland on Tuesday.

"The one-point penalty is significant, it certainly is a challenge for us to
overcome," Gilmour said.

"We've tried internally within the sailing team to use it as motivation."
Australia's Gilmour said OneWorld have decided to use Jamie Spithill as
helmsman for the first two round-robins of the Louis Vuitton Cup series for the
nine challengers.

Spithill, 23, became the youngest sailor ever to helm an America's Cup challenger
when he led the short-lived Young Australia campaign in 1999/2000.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2063359a7313,00.html

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