Spribe and Aviator LLC’s copyright battle has resulted in a temporary injunction being granted by the UK High Court, to prevent Aviator from launching a similar game in the market before the case goes to trial.
Spribe last week secured a court injunction in the UK against Aviator LLC, preventing the Georgian games provider from launching a competing game featuring its trademark red plane.
On 31 July Judge Anthony Mann granted the temporary injunction ahead of the case going to trial in 2026, Law360 reports.
Aviator argued the game would unlikely go live in the UK before the case, as it would need to be approved by the Gambling Commission. However the judge warned there was an argument the offering could be set live before the case goes to trial.
One source close to the case said the trial would likely commence in either late 2026 or early 2027.
Spribe accuses Aviator of providing conflicting evidence
Spribe said in a statement published on Tuesday that the proposed game by Aviator “blatantly infringes the copyright works which Spribe owns and seeks to misappropriate the goodwill which Spribe has created in its Aviator brand”.
The supplier accused Aviator of providing conflicting and contradictory evidence and attempting to misdirect the UK court by “obscuring its role through the creation of a shifting network of licensing entities”.
Spribe also insisted Aviator has denied previously stated plans to enter the UK market and refused to provide key evidence.
“This led to Aviator LLC’s conduct being described by the Court as ‘childlike’ and ‘petulant’,” the statement said.
According to a Law360 article on the case, Aviator claimed copyright infringement against Spribe in the UK High Court in January. It made similar claims over the plane and imagery used in Spribe’s offering and requested Spribe’s Aviator trademark be revoked.
According to the timeline of the case, a counterclaim was filed by Spribe in April.
Spribe is being represented by Bird & Bird while Aviator is being represented by Hogarth Chambers and advised by Allen Overy Shearman.
iGB has contacted Spribe and Bird & Bird for comment on the upcoming trial.
The ruling is the latest move in an ongoing dispute between Spribe and Aviator LLC, initially filed in the UK’s High Court in September 2024.
The case relates to a similar claim made by Aviator in its home country of Georgia, where it won a trademark case against Spribe in March.
The Georgian case also involved Flutter, which had provided the Aviator game to players in the market. But in January the parties reached a settlement and Flutter recognised Aviator LLC’s rights to the TM Aviator and airplane image, Aviator’s lawyers said.
Within the initial case Aviator insisted it was the original copyright owner of the red plane and logo used in Spribe’s global smash-hit crash game.
The ruling, handed down by Georgia’s Court of Appeal, granted Aviator exclusivity over the images’ IP and trademark. At the time the company said it was advancing similar cases in the EUIPO and UK.