LONDON — Virgin Group employees claimed the corporation was facing a “brand catastrophe” and “a reputation nightmare” according to emails introduced by Brightline in a lawsuit over its split with Virgin over the branding of the U.S. rail passenger service, the Financial Times reports.
A trial began Monday in London over Brightline’s exit from its 20-year agreement with Virgin Group over the rebranding of its service as Virgin Trains USA, a deal announced in November 2018 but rescinded by Brightline in August 2020 [see “Digest: Brightline ends marketing agreement …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 8, 2020]. The MiamiCentral station was the only part of Brightline’s operation ever rebranded under the agreement.
Virgin is suing for $250 million in damages, saying Brightline is in breach of its trademark licensing agreement. Brightline argued it triggered the exit clause because the brand established by Sir Richard Branson had lost its “international high repute” as a result of issues during the pandemic, while Virgin claims Brightline had second thoughts about the agreement and was “looking for an opportunistic pretxt to extricate itself.”
The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
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