Richard Branson pledged he would do launch a new Virgin airline in the U.S. if Alaska Airlines dropped the name, which suggests Branson certainly thought use of the trademark reverted to Virgin. He repeated the claim multiple times.
Virgin’s position at the Commercial Court of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales is that Branson was effectively lying – that Virgin had no right to use the trademark for an airline in the U.S. anymore – and that Alaska Airlines had purchased the exclusive right through 2039 whether they used it or not.