UK Supreme Court Controversial Decision in Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited v Zodiac Seats UK Limited - Essay Example

Virgin Atlantic used Zodiac Seats for allegedly infringing the European Parent. At the same time, Zodiac filed an opposition challenging the validity of this patent at the European Patent office.  Initially, the UK court ruled that the patent was valid and had not been infringed. Upon an appeal filed by Zodiac, this ruling was reversed and the patent was found to be valid and infringed.  Zodiac then appealed to the Supreme Court claiming that principle of res judicata should not apply (Slorach & Ellis, 2012).

The Supreme Court assessed the effect of the patent that had been declared invalid. In its judgment, it decided that the invalid patent could not be infringed and that Zodiac was entitled to claim that Virgin had suffered no loss in terms of damages. The controversy in this decision lies in the fact that the Supreme Court challenged the rationale of the commercial certainty principle that was used by the court of appeal. The Court commented that in any given situation, only half the parties involved in an active demand commercial certainty. This meant that the decision impacted the damages and patent litigation in the United Kingdom.