After reaching settlement with Flutter Entertainment Plc, Aviator LLC is continuing to pursue litigation against SPRIBE OU regarding IP infringement and legal ownership claims of the brand Aviator.
Previously Georgia's Court of First Instance has issued a judgment invalidating SPRIBE's trademarks in Georgia, finding that SPRIBE registered disputed trademarks in bad faith and in breach of Aviator LLC's copyrights.
Factual Background
The original Avaitor logo was created by the designer Mr. Giorgi Popiashvili in 2017 and was used by the land casino operator Aviator in Georgia since 2018. Casino Aviator was owned by Teumraz Ugulava and was operating under the premises of Stamba Hotel, also owned by him. The same logo was used for online roulette streaming on one of the biggest online gambling platforms in Georgia, called Adjarabet (www.adjarabet.com). At the time, this platform was also owned by Mr. Ugulava who was running Adjarabet under the company Aviator LLC, established in 2015.
In 2018, City Loft LLC, the parent company of Casino Aviator and Adjarabet registered 4 Aviator trademarks which are still in force in Georgia. Registrations are accessible through following links:
https://www.sakpatenti.gov.ge/en/search_engine/view/97902/3/
https://www.sakpatenti.gov.ge/en/search_engine/view/98969/3/
https://www.sakpatenti.gov.ge/en/search_engine/view/99435/3/
https://www.sakpatenti.gov.ge/en/search_engine/view/99436/3/
Spribe OU is the company established on August 8, 2018, after the abovementioned trademarks were filed for registration and long after the Aviator logo was created.
In 2018, in cooperation with Adjarabet and with Adjarabet's financial assistance, the newly formed SPRIBE created the crash game, which was exclusively launched on the Adjarabet platform in 2019. SPRIBE was instructed by Adjarabet to use the name Aviator for the game and to use the said airplane graphic in the game. To be more specific, SPRIBE has created software for the crash game and used name and airplane which was given to them by Adjarabet. When the said branding (trademark Aviator and airplane image) was given to SPRIBE to use in the crash game, it was actively used by Casino Aviator as its trademark as well as in its marketing materials.
Before SPRIBE was even established:
1. | Operator company of Adjarabet was established in 2015 and its company name was Aviator LLC since then. |
2. | The Aviator logo was created in 2017 and copyright belonged to the parent company of Adjarabet and casino Aviator. |
3. | Land Casino has been operating under the TM Aviator and was using airplane image in its branding and marketing. |
4. | Adjarabet was streaming online roulette through its website and Aviator branding was used for it. |
As stated, SPRIBE created the game in cooperation with Adjarabet and with Adjarabet's financial assistance. As the game was intended to be launched exclusively on Adjarabet's platform, Adjarabet instructed SPRIBE to use Casino Aviator's branding (TM Aviator and airplane image) in the game. This branding was intended to be used exclusively on Adjarabet's platform. Moreover, during the creation of the game, Adjarabet gave instructions to SPRIBE regarding various functions, features, and visual appearance of the game.
Adjarabet never gave any consent and/or license or authorized SPRIBE to use the name Aviator and/or the trademarked airplane logo and or its modified version anywhere other than its platform. Nor did it give any right to SPRIBE to register either the name Aviator or the airplane image in any jurisdiction. SPRIBE has been using the said airplane image and the name Aviator for its crash game on the Adjarabet platform until January 24, 2024, when Georgia's Court of First Instance issued the preliminary injunction which forbids its use until the dispute on IP infringement between Aviator LLC and SPRIBE OU is resolved.
On May 3, 2022, Mr. Ugulava sold Adjarabet to Flutter Entertainment Plc. The sales and purchase agreement of this transaction stated directly that the agreement did not include the acquisition of rights to the Aviator trademark, which was transferred to its current holder Aviator LLC (404612610), which since 2022 runs slots gaming operations under said trademarks and uses the logo for its business.
Despite that, SPRIBE applied multiple trademarks in multiple jurisdictions including Georgia where the game was created.
The grounds for the invalidation of said trademarks were bad faith registration and copyright infringement. On August 20, 2024 Georgia's Court of First Instance invalidated SPRIBE's trademarks based on both grounds. Namely the court determined that both trademarks were registered in bad faith and were infringing copyright of Aviator LLC. The decision of the Court of Appeals is expected to be delivered in forthcoming months as the final hearing is scheduled on February 14, 2025.
The same invalidation action is currently pending in EUIPO regarding the trademark which SPRIBE has indicated in its report. Namely, the said trademark is registered in 2020 by SPRIBE and is the identical to the trademark which was invalidated in Georgia. You can access this information through the following link: https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/details/trademarks/018817594
Aviator LLC is pursuing SPRIBE's trademark worldwide including EUIPO and the UK and is claiming to invalidate SPRIBE's trademarks based on bad faith registration and copyright infringement.
For more information on this dispute, please contact Aviator LLC's legal representative Nikoloz Gogilidze at info.aviator@mikadze.ge.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250205248748/en/
Contacts:
Nikoloz Gogilidze, info.aviator@mikadze.ge
