Imagine that someone steals your car, but the police find it. It's not quite as you last saw it, it's been resprayed, got new wheels, and the number plates have been changed, but it is undoubtedly your car.

It's an open and shut case and, please, you'd like your wheels back. The thief, however, employs a lawyer who says that would be unfair. His client, he argues, has improved the car and it offends all natural justice that you should be allowed to take possession of his client's improvements.

If this seems far fetched, it is the view taken by Toyota Motorsport according to the Cologne public prosecutor, Siegmar Raupach, in an interview with the Italian newspaper, Gazzetta dello Sport. According to Raupach, his office has found evidence that Toyota has used Ferrari aerodynamic software, but Toyota is objecting to its return on the grounds that it cannot separate the original Ferrari programs from whose which have been added by its own engineers.

To return the programs would be to give Ferrari some of Toyota's own work. In other words, you cannot have your stolen car because of its smart new paint job.

This is just one thread of the story. Toyota is still denying misappropriation and is at pains to stress that it has always cooperated with the authorities. The cynical may say that when the cuffs are on you, it's not a bad strategy to cooperate. I am so glad I am not a cynic, though I confess to being a sceptic.

The allegation that Toyota Motorsport is baulking at the return of software comes from the Cologne prosecutor who, presumably, has grounds on which to base his story. It was Cologne's police force which raided Toyota Motorsport in November 2003, though they were assisted by two officers from Modena who had been specially trained by Ferrari to know what to look for.

The lawyer acting for Angelo Santini and Mauro Iacconi, the two men who have been charged, claims that his clients are innocent, the case will be contested, and he has every confidence that his clients will be cleared. I am sure that none of us would be happy if we employed a lawyer who said Tough one, this, my clients are clearly guilty, but I'm going to put on a show.

Santini was directly employed by Toyota Motorsport until late October, 2004. Iacconi, who runs a company called Aerolab, based about 15 miles from Modena, was retained by Toyota as a consultant. So far it has not been revealed whether Santini jumped or was pushed or, even, if there was a financial package involved with his leaving.

It will be interesting to see if Santini's terms of employment are revealed in his trial.

If Toyota is to maintain its innocence, as it has every right to do, passing software to Ferrari would be an admission of guilt. Siegmar Raupach's allegation that the Ferrari software is embedded in Toyota's software, and Toyota has added value to it, is only an allegation.

Toyota's performance since it entered Formula One in 2002 does not suggest that Ferrari has a lot to learn from it. In those three seasons, Ferrari has won six from six World Championships and Toyota has yet to make the podium. Toyota has a 'supercar', using the name 'Supra', under development for the time when it is successful in Formula One. If that is the case, anyone like to guess when the new Supra will appear?

Toyota recruited Mike Gascoyne from Renault at the beginning of this year so its software has benefited from months of input under Gascoyne's direction.