In response to questions from class members and other interested parties, ILCA would like to clarify its statement of last week announcing that the class-approved builders and ILCA agreed to a proposed new name and sail insignia for the class dinghy.
Changing the brand name for the class dinghy is a necessary step to ensure the ongoing supply of class-legal equipment and to improve availability worldwide while addressing trademark considerations. The proposed name change will also allow ILCA to come into full compliance with World Sailing’s FRAND licensing requirements, as outlined in its Olympic Equipment Strategy paper and Olympic re-evaluation tender documents, as well as relevant antitrust regulations.
ILCA emphasizes that all necessary votes and approvals of the class members and World Sailing will be obtained before the changeover is completed. That process already began with an ILCA World Council vote some weeks ago to remove the requirement in the ILCA Class Rules that a Builder must have rights to use the Laser trademark. The World Council voted to approve that change and submitted the approved change to World Sailing for consultation as recommended under World Sailing Regulation 10.11.1. ILCA hopes to hear back soon with World Sailing’s official response so we can continue forward to a vote of our members as required under our rules.
ILCA continues to work in consultation with World Sailing and our legal advisers to ensure we follow all relevant rules and regulations of the sport’s governing body throughout this process. ILCA fully understands that World Sailing cannot, under its regulations, provide formal approval of a class rule change before member approval is obtained, and we apologize for any confusion caused by our previous statement that implied World Sailing’s endorsement or pre-approval or that ILCA would not seek approval of the members for this change. We have corrected our original statement of April 25 on our website to clarify these misstatements.
ILCA is confident that we will receive timely approval for the necessary changes in accordance with World Sailing Regulations upon submission of our formal application. For more background and FAQ: https://tinyurl.com/y66uxb4o