Virgin Atlantic takes seat manufacturer to court

Virgin Atlantic is launching a High Court battle against seat manufacturer Contour to prevent the firm from selling the Upper Class seats to rival airlines.

Virgin Atlantic is seeking damages potentially running into tens of millions of pounds and an injunction to prevent Contour selling the seat to rival airlines including Delta, Air Canada, and Jet.

The seat was designed by Virgin’s in-house design team with Pearson Lloyd and entered service in November 2003.

Virgin Atlantic holds the patent and design rights to the seat, and Pearson Lloyd is not involved in the legal action. The consultancy was unavailable for comment.

A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic says, ‘We are taking legal action against UK seat manufacturer Contour in order to protect our patent and design rights on the award-winning Upper Class seat system.

‘We take pride in having the best seats in business class, which is why so many passengers choose Virgin Atlantic.’

Contour was unavailable for comment.

The case is expected to start at the High Court tomorrow and to last for up to three weeks.