London – Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Enterprises is suing a United States rail company for US$251m (\u00a3182m) over its decision to drop the Virgin name from its trains.<\/p>\n
It had a 20-year licensing deal which allowed Brightline to rebrand as Virgin Trains USA in exchange for royalties.<\/p>\n
Virgin claims Brightline is reneging on the agreement by spuriously claiming the Virgin name has been damaged.<\/p>\n
The suit said Brightline claimed Virgin is no longer \u201ca brand of international high repute” following the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Virgin said it has maintained its status as an internationally reputed brand, and described the allegation that the Virgin brand had been damaged as “cynical and spurious”.<\/p>\n
In 2018, Virgin struck the licensing deal with Brightline, which operates a train service between Miami and West Palm beach in Florida, with plans to extend the line to Orlando, the home of Disney World.<\/p>\n
Its existing service was suspended in March 2020, and isn\u2019t expected to resume until later this year.<\/p>\n
Brightline is also planning a route between Apple Valley, near Los Angeles and Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Difficult year for Virgin<\/strong><\/p>\n The train operator first signalled it might scrap the deal in April, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Virgin Group\u2019s travel-focused businesses.<\/p>\n Virgin Atlantic airlines cut thousands of jobs as part of a $1.7bn rescue plan.<\/p>\n Branson even offered to use his luxury island resort as collateral to help secure state aid for Virgin Atlantic.<\/p>\n The group also delayed the launch of its first cruise ship, and its gyms and hotels were closed.<\/p>\n Virgin contends that Brightline cannot lawfully scrap the contract until 2023 at the earliest, and even then it would have had to pay an exit fee.<\/p>\n The company is suing for US$251.3m, which it claims would cover the royalties it should have received up to this date, plus the early termination fee. (BBC)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" London – Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Enterprises is suing a United States rail company for US$251m (\u00a3182m) over its decision to drop the Virgin name from its trains. It had a 20-year licensing deal which allowed Brightline to rebrand as Virgin Trains USA in exchange for royalties. Virgin claims Brightline is reneging on the agreement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":242508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[507],"tags":[673,10997,10998],"yoast_head":"\n