rules and regulations

[bogaTYR]

one thing about a possible breakaway series eludes me. namely what rules and regulations will govern this new series? can i go to the local copy shop with a whole stack of docs with FIA logos removed and say, hey presto! here are my rules and regulations!

i don't think its that easy. so anyone who has an idea who owes the F1 regulations ans can someone just copy and paste them?

 

[FB]

Presumably the FIA owns them and given Max's propensity for litigation anything close to them would kick off another law suit.

You also have to question whether FOTA could agree on any rules between themselves given that they can't (or more accurately won't) agree to the FIA rules.

 

[GeoffP]

Tried to comment on this a few times, each time discovered that my conjectured opinion opened up a can of worms for each point....

I would have thought that the regulations could be broken down as follows:

Racing series administration - Basis set to standards set for the administration on an international sport;

Racing Rules - Based upon standard set by circuits, circuit association;

Car Specification - Standard of series controlling body. Question is, do they own the rights to this standard, if not, can it be copied directly? If they do own the standards, how close can you get before breaching copyright?

Superlicenses - Are they a racing standard, or owned by the FIA? Are they required in order to race at this level?

In addition:

Circuits - Are there non-competition clauses in the contracts with the FIA for the current circuits used by F1 that would prevent their involvement


As bogaTYR states, can you just delete the FIA logo and copy, or do you need to re-invent the wheel?

Whether you are restricted by copyright or contract six months to define and commit to a race series is never going to happen, if FOTA are serious (which I doubt) the implication is that F1 will not happen in 2010.



My personal conviction is that this is a merely positioning statement to force negotiation for 2010, and/or subsequent preparation for leaving the FIA's F1 series in two to five years should the FIA not notice that there are others who have opinions that need to be heard. Not to say that the whole thing couldn't go tits up if Max won't negotiate, but a breakaway series would be a lot easier to form if there wasn't a break between the two.

 

[Brogan]

I doubt the FIA can copyright rules and regulations.

Just because the FIA rules might say a car can only be x cm wide and x cm long, it doesn't mean any other series can't do that.

Obviously they can't just copy and paste the text but it would be a simple matter to extract the relevant content and rewrite it.

 

[Brogan]

There's an article in Pitpass concerning legal issues over rules, regulations and names, etc.
It makes for interesting reading.

In February 2005, the Daily Telegraph reported that the GPWC, according to its spokesman, was "not excluding the possibility of using the Formula One name". Of course not only did it not do this but the threat of a GPWC series ended with an agreement under which the teams' prize money doubled to the current 50% of F1's profits. However the threat of a new rival series raises the naming question yet again, and, according to one very well-placed source, the manufacturers could have played an even stronger hand by calling the cars in their series Formula One cars. FOTA, take note.

Under an agreement with the European Commission in 2001, the FIA committed in principle to attaching its name to any series, if asked by organisers, promoting a definitive competition which is properly managed, sufficiently popular and developed. In short, the FIA can not favour the FIA F1 world championship over rival series. And apparently it goes far deeper than that.

"Had the GPWC called their cars 'Formula One' they would have been in quite a strong position if the cars were built to the then F1 regulations - if a car is a genuine F1 car, it is difficult to stop someone calling it that," says the source. There is good reason for this.

Full article: Why a competing series within F1 is legal

Whatever happened, it would be a field day for lawyers.