The complaint
The case is North Sails Group, LLC v. Team New Zealand Limited and Stephen Collie, No. 1:26-cv-03061 (E.D. Va., Alexandria Division), filed September 15, 2026, ECF No. 1 (31 pages). The complaint demands a jury trial. It describes North Sails as a Delaware limited liability company, Team New Zealand Limited (TNZ) as a New Zealand company, and Stephen Collie as an individual.
What the patent covers
U.S. Patent 12,110,089, titled Sail Structure, issued October 8, 2024. It names Collie as inventor and Team New Zealand Limited as applicant and assignee. Claim 1 recites a sail with a head, a tack, a luff between them, and a luff region along the luff that has a higher degree of elasticity than the remainder of the sail, where the luff region includes a first material and the remainder includes a different second material whose average stiffness is 2 to 20 times that of the first. A certificate of correction issued May 27, 2025, revising the drawings and specification. (U.S. Patent 12,110,089 claim 1 and certificate of correction.)
What the lawsuit alleges
North Sails alleges that the defendants used its proprietary information and inventions, developed in its work supplying sails and design tools to America's Cup teams, to obtain patents of their own. It seeks correction of the '089 patent's inventorship to add a North Sails employee as a co-inventor, a declaration that it owns what the complaint calls the Collie Portfolio (the '089 patent, its foreign counterparts and related patents), and an order that TNZ assign those patents to it. It alleges that Collie breached a 2017 confidentiality agreement and, on information and belief, that he acted as TNZ's agent. In the alternative, it seeks a declaration that the '089 patent is invalid and unenforceable. The complaint says that if North Sails obtains ownership it intends to license the patents royalty-free to all America's Cup teams. (Compl. paras. 1, 84 to 90.)
The complaint alleges that in letters dated July 31 and August 25, 2026, TNZ, through counsel, warned rival America's Cup teams against using sails within the scope of the Collie Portfolio and warned North Sails against designing, making or importing such sails into Italy, and that the August 25 letter raised possible litigation seeking a preliminary injunction. The seven counts are correction of inventorship (Count I), breach of contract and ownership of the Collie Portfolio (Count II), unjust enrichment (Count III), invalidity (Count IV), inequitable conduct (Count V), unfair trade practices under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (Count VI), and tortious interference (Count VII). (Compl. para. 67; Counts I to VII.)
What to watch next
The docket shows proposed summonses for both defendants filed on September 15, 2026. Watch for service on TNZ in New Zealand and on Collie, their responses to the inventorship, ownership and invalidity counts, and any infringement claim TNZ brings on the '089 patent. Any case can end at any time, including by settlement or voluntary dismissal.