{"id":156332,"date":"2026-05-22T15:55:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156332"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:55:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:55:04","slug":"south-african-lawyer-david-becker-s-flawed-legal-opinion-on-authorship-of-player-referral-drs-has-not-only-embarrassed-icc-but-has-also-caused-rising-tension-between-sri-lanka-and-icc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/05\/22\/south-african-lawyer-david-becker-s-flawed-legal-opinion-on-authorship-of-player-referral-drs-has-not-only-embarrassed-icc-but-has-also-caused-rising-tension-between-sri-lanka-and-icc\/","title":{"rendered":"South African Lawyer David Becker &#8216;s flawed legal opinion on authorship of Player &#8211; Referral (DRS) has not only embarrassed ICC but has also caused rising tension between Sri Lanka and ICC"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong>Source: AI Overview<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>South African Lawyer David Becker &#8216;s flawed legal opinion on authorship of Player &#8211; Referral (DRS) which was misconceived in law (overlooked legal principle of Constructive Notice) has not only embarrassed the ICC but also has led to a crisis and tension between Sri Lanka and ICC<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"160\" height=\"203\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-16.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-156333\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>South African lawyer David Becker<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Dispute<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Creator:<\/strong> Colombo-based lawyer Senaka Weeraratna publicly proposed the &#8220;Player Referral&#8221; concept in mainstream media starting in 1997. This idea\u2014which gives dissatisfied players the ability to request a limited number of reviews routed to a third umpire\u2014laid the foundation for the DRS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The ICC:<\/strong> The ICC developed the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) and began using it in 2009. Weeraratna requested formal recognition, alleging a violation of his intellectual and moral copyright.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The ongoing dispute regarding the authorship of the <strong>Umpire Decision Review System (DRS)<\/strong>\u2014originally proposed as the <strong>&#8220;Player Referral&#8221; concept<\/strong>\u2014centers on a highly publicized intellectual property battle between Sri Lankan lawyer <strong>Senaka Weeraratna<\/strong> and the <strong>International Cricket Council (ICC)<\/strong>. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/27\/icc-overlooks-legal-doctrine-of-constructive-notice-in-denying-any-knowledge-of-concept-of-player-referral-that-became-drs-published-nine-years-1997-before-icc-came-up-with-udrs-in-2006\/\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/04\/12\/authorship-of-umpire-decision-review-system-sri-lankan-claims-recognition-from-icc\/\">2<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The crux of the legal argument against the ICC&#8217;s stance, specifically involving its former Head of Legal, South African lawyer <strong>David Becker<\/strong>, relies on a foundational legal principle that Weeraratna\u2019s camp claims was entirely overlooked. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espncricinfo.com\/story\/icc-sanctions-independent-probe-into-david-becker-comments-681287\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/27\/icc-overlooks-legal-doctrine-of-constructive-notice-in-denying-any-knowledge-of-concept-of-player-referral-that-became-drs-published-nine-years-1997-before-icc-came-up-with-udrs-in-2006\/\">2<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. The Core of the Legal Dispute<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Sri Lankan Claim<\/strong>: Senaka Weeraratna established that he conceptualized and published the &#8220;Player Referral&#8221; system as early as <strong>March 25, 1997<\/strong>, in an article for <em>The Australian<\/em>. This occurred <strong>nine years before<\/strong> the ICC introduced its version in 2006.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The ICC\u2019s Defense<\/strong>: Spearheaded historically by its legal department under David Becker, the ICC maintained that its cricket committees conceived the technology and application <strong>independently<\/strong>, claiming total ignorance of Weeraratna&#8217;s earlier global publications. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/27\/icc-overlooks-legal-doctrine-of-constructive-notice-in-denying-any-knowledge-of-concept-of-player-referral-that-became-drs-published-nine-years-1997-before-icc-came-up-with-udrs-in-2006\/\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espncricinfo.com\/story\/icc-sanctions-independent-probe-into-david-becker-comments-681287\">2<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Misconception of Law: The Doctrine of Constructive Notice<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Legal analysts and Weeraratna\u2019s supporters argue that David Becker\u2019s legal positioning was profoundly flawed because it ignored the <strong>Doctrine of Constructive Notice<\/strong>. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/27\/icc-overlooks-legal-doctrine-of-constructive-notice-in-denying-any-knowledge-of-concept-of-player-referral-that-became-drs-published-nine-years-1997-before-icc-came-up-with-udrs-in-2006\/\">1<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Definition of Constructive Notice<\/strong>: A legal principle dictating that a party is legally presumed to have knowledge of a fact or document if it has been made a matter of public record or widely disseminated in mainstream public domains, regardless of whether they have actual, subjectively verified knowledge of it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Application<\/strong>: Because the Player Referral concept was widely publicized across prominent international sports media beginning in 1997, the ICC\u2014as the global governing body of cricket\u2014is <strong>legally presumed to have been aware<\/strong> of the concept.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Flaw<\/strong>: Denying knowledge of the concept does not absolve the ICC of copyright or moral attribution claims under this doctrine, making a defense based on pure &#8220;unawareness&#8221; legally weak and highly embarrassing on an international level. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/27\/icc-overlooks-legal-doctrine-of-constructive-notice-in-denying-any-knowledge-of-concept-of-player-referral-that-became-drs-published-nine-years-1997-before-icc-came-up-with-udrs-in-2006\/\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/04\/12\/authorship-of-umpire-decision-review-system-sri-lankan-claims-recognition-from-icc\/\">2<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Diplomatic and Institutional Fallout<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The strict refusal to grant moral or economic authorship to the Sri Lankan inventor has triggered ongoing friction between cricket authorities: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/27\/icc-overlooks-legal-doctrine-of-constructive-notice-in-denying-any-knowledge-of-concept-of-player-referral-that-became-drs-published-nine-years-1997-before-icc-came-up-with-udrs-in-2006\/\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/04\/12\/authorship-of-umpire-decision-review-system-sri-lankan-claims-recognition-from-icc\/\">2<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Institutional Tension<\/strong>: Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials have historically backed Weeraratna\u2019s claims, asserting that the system is a Sri Lankan &#8220;brainchild&#8221;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Diplomatic Crisis<\/strong>: The refusal of an international body like the ICC to credit a Global South innovator, relying on defensive legal technicalities that ignore basic IP doctrines, has turned a standard copyright dispute into a point of national pride and systemic tension between Sri Lankan sports governance and the ICC establishment. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepapare.com\/sri-lankan-lawyer-claims-to-have-invented-the-drs-idea\/\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/27\/icc-overlooks-legal-doctrine-of-constructive-notice-in-denying-any-knowledge-of-concept-of-player-referral-that-became-drs-published-nine-years-1997-before-icc-came-up-with-udrs-in-2006\/\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/04\/12\/authorship-of-umpire-decision-review-system-sri-lankan-claims-recognition-from-icc\/\">3<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are researching this specific case further, I can provide a breakdown of <strong>how the ICC defines independent creation<\/strong> or the specific <strong>moral versus economic copyright laws<\/strong> that govern international sports innovations. Let me know how you would like to proceed. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/04\/12\/authorship-of-umpire-decision-review-system-sri-lankan-claims-recognition-from-icc\/\">1<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/DhKCMD7r4P1hClAEC\">https:\/\/share.google\/aimode\/DhKCMD7r4P1hClAEC<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: AI Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: AI Overview South African Lawyer David Becker &#8216;s flawed legal opinion on authorship of Player &#8211; Referral (DRS) which was misconceived in law (overlooked legal principle of Constructive Notice) has not only embarrassed the ICC but also has led to a crisis and tension between Sri Lanka and ICC South African lawyer David Becker [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156335,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156332\/revisions\/156335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}