On August 20, the Court of First Instance in Georgia decided that Aviator was right in its claim that Spribe and Adjarabet, Georgia’s biggest online casino owned by the UK company Flutter Entertainment, had infringed on its copyright and trademark. The court found that the trademark registrations were invalid because they were done in bad faith and that copyright infringement occurred. The court awarded Aviator $330 million in damages.
Reaction from Aviator’s Legal Team
“We are happy with the court’s decision on this claim. We will keep working hard to protect our client’s intellectual property from unauthorized use on any international gaming platforms,” said Nikoloz Gogilidze, Managing Partner at the law firm Mikadze Gegetchkori Taktakishvili LLC, which represents Aviator.
Trademark and Copyright Issues
Aviator owns trademarks for the logo “Aviator” used in gambling services, including online and physical casinos. Spribe OÜ used the “Aviator” name and image in its main game, which was available on the online gambling site Adjarabet in Georgia. In 2021-2022, Spribe OÜ registered its own “Aviator” trademarks for computer games and gambling services. Aviator argued that these registrations violated their original trademark.
Aviator sued Spribe, seeking to invalidate the trademarks for two reasons: 1) Spribe registered the trademarks in bad faith, knowing about Aviator’s existing rights and using Aviator’s image and trademark in its crash game; and 2) the trademark registrations violated Aviator’s copyright on the image.
Claim Against Adjarabet
In the same lawsuit, Aviator asked the court to stop the online gambling platform Adjarabet from using the name Aviator and the claimant’s image. Aviator also sought damages for the previous illegal use.
Court’s Decision
On August 20, 2024, the Court of First Instance made its decision and agreed with all the claims made by the claimant. The court decided that Spribe OÜ registered its trademarks in bad faith and that these trademarks violated the claimant’s copyright on their image. Because of this decision, the court canceled the contested trademark registrations.
Regarding the claim against the online gambling platform adjarabet, the court ruled in favor of the claimant. The court ordered adjarabet to stop using the name Aviator for its main game and online casino streaming. The court also awarded Aviator $330,000,000 in compensation for the illegal use of the trademark and copyright.
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