Oracle are confident a New York court will rule that October 2008 should be the date for its multihull duel against Swiss champions Alinghi that is to decide the next America's Cup.

Oracle spokesman Tom Ehman said New York State Supreme Court judge Herman Cahn understood that the Deed of the Gift, the 121-year-old rules to the yachting race, "only provides for the defender to have ten months to prepare for the match."

"We are very pleased with the hearing. We continue to look forward to a match in October 2008," he said in a statement issued after Cahn heard arguments from both sides.

Last month Alinghi asked the court, the trustee of the Deed of Gift, to set the date of their duel against Oracle after talks between the two sides to settle the issue broke down in Geneva, Switzerland.

Alinghi, owned by Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, prefers July 2009 while San Francisco-based Oracle, backed by US billionaire Larry Ellison, insists on October 2008.

The Swiss team argues it cannot build a competitive multihull yacht by October in order to adequately defend their crown for what would be their third straight title in yachting's showpiece event.

Oracle argues that the Deed of Gift stipulates that the challenger can select the dates for the the match while the defender can pick the location.

According to Oracle the only limitation is that the challenger give its rivals at least 10 months notice of the date of the race to give them time to prepare, a rule which the US team said it has met.

Alinghi retained the America's Cup by beating Team New Zealand in a hugely successful event in the Spanish Mediterranean port of Valencia in July 2007.

The 33rd America's Cup had originally been scheduled to be held in Valencia in July 2009 as a traditional regatta involving several teams.

But in November organisers indefinately postponed the event because of the ongoing legal wrangling betwen Oracle and Alinghi over the rules of the event.

AFP