The Court of First Instance in Georgia ruled on August 20 in favor of the copyright and trademark infringement claim of Aviator LLC against the gaming company Spribe OÜ and Adjarabet, the largest online casino in that country, owned by the UK-based Flutter Entertainment. Aviator was awarded $330 million in damages for previous illegal use.
The court's decision found copyright and trademark infringement and invalidated the trademark registrations on the grounds of bad faith registration and copyright infringement, awarding the claimant damages of $330 million.
“We are pleased with the outcome of the court's decision on this claim and will continue to aggressively protect our client's intellectual property against unlicensed use on any international gaming platforms,” said Nikoloz Gogilidze, managing partner at the law firm Mikadze Gegetchkori Taktakishvili LLC, who represents Aviator LLC.
Aviator owns several trademark registrations for the “Aviator” graphic logo for gambling services, including online and physical casino services and gambling games. The image and brand name “Aviator” were used by Spribe in its main game, offered by the online gambling platform www.adjarabet.com in Georgia.
In 2021-2022, Spribe registered its own “Aviator” trademarks for computer games and gambling services, which the claimant alleged were infringing on its original trademark.
Aviator filed a lawsuit against Spribe alleging the invalidation of the trademarks on two grounds: 1) the trademarks were registered in bad faith, as Spribe OÜ was aware of the claimant's rights while simultaneously using the claimant's image and trademark for its crash game; and 2) the trademark registrations infringed the copyright of the claimant over the aforementioned image.
In the same lawsuit, Aviator requested that the online betting platform www.adjarabet.com be prevented from using the Aviator name, as well as the image belonging to the claimant, and sought compensation for previous illegal use.
On August 20, 2024, the Court of First Instance delivered its decision and satisfied all the claims of the claimant. That is, the court decided that Spribe's trademarks were registered in bad faith and, secondly, that Spribe's trademarks infringed the copyright over the claimant's image. With this decision, the court invalidated the contested trademark registrations on the aforementioned grounds.
Regarding the claim against the online betting platform www.adjarabet.com, the court ruled in favor of the claimant, ordered the platform to stop using the Aviator name for its main game and online streaming of casino games. The court awarded Aviator $330 million in damages for trademark and copyright infringement due to previous illegal use.
Source: GMB
