Flutter Entertainment and a Georgian business which had sued it for trademark infringement have settled their legal dispute over the Aviator trademark.
Aviator LLC, owned by ex-Adjarabet owner Teimuraz Ugulava, issued a press release yesterday (30 January) announcing it and Flutter have agreed a “long-term commercial partnership”.
This deal will see Aviator-branded online games being marketed and distributed internationally.
Sources confirmed to NEXT.io the deal will end the outstanding legal dispute between the two parties and its affiliates.
It follows Flutter losing a $330m judgement in the Georgian Court of the First Instance last August for copyright and trademark infringement.
A source close to events at the time described the level of damages as egregious and as bearing no relation as to the actual economics of the property.
Nikoloz Gogilidze, managing partner of the law firm representing the business, told NEXT.io the deal will see Flutter and its subsidiaries recognise its rights to the trademark Aviator and airplane image.
The long-term cooperation stated in the press release will involve the integration of its games on Flutter’s subsidiaries platforms globally.
However, the deal will extend only to Flutter and not to SPRIBE, which is the business that is using the trademarks at question through its flagship Aviator crash game.
Following its victory in Georgia, Aviator filed claims against the business in both the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the UK High Court last year.
Gogilidze said Aviator’s dispute against SPRIBE will continue in various jurisdictions, with the company soon to issue a status update on the proceedings.
SPRIBE statement
SPRIBE issued a statement on LinkedIn today stating the business is the sole owner of the Aviator game’s IP rights, which it said are protected in many countries it operates in.
These rights, the business added, include a number of trademark registrations for the game’s logo.
SPRIBE said: “As expected, the popularity and quality of our game has increased the desire of third parties to seek to exploit and unlawfully benefit from our goodwill in the Aviator game.
“It has come to our attention that unauthorised third parties are trying to reach some of our clients and sell them an ‘Aviator’ game with a very similar concept and design, claiming that it is the authentic Aviator game. This includes a game which is being distributed by PopOK Gaming.
“The primary purpose of this letter is to let you know that these games are not authorised by us and infringe upon SPRIBE’s intellectual property rights. They mislead players by falsely associating their game with our brand.
“Please be informed that we are taking these matters very seriously and will not tolerate any infringement of our intellectual property rights. In addition to our rights against PopOK, any operator or partner hosting or distributing these games will be in direct violation of our rights and may be subject to legal action.”
SPRIBE concluded to requesting businesses investigate whether their platforms offer any infringing versions of Aviator, and if so, to remove them.
Background to the dispute
The saga traces back to 2016-2017, when Ugulava reportedly created the Aviator brand and logo.
In 2018, the former Adjarabet-owner registered the trademark through City Loft LLC, a company he solely owned.
At that time, Ugulava controlled both a land-based casino named Aviator and the online platform Adjarabet.
The game’s development took a turn in January 2019 when Adjarabet launched the Aviator crash game in collaboration with SPRIBE .
City Loft claims it provided consent for Adjarabet to use the Aviator logo and airplane image during this period.
Shortly after the game’s launch, Ugulava sold a majority stake in Adjarabet to Flutter for £100m, though the business claims the sale agreement did not include rights to the Aviator trademark.
According to Gogilidze, SPRIBE and Adjarabet continued using the original logo in Georgian and Armenian markets until January 2024.
Aviator claimed when SPRIBE sought to expand the game internationally the company strategically modified the logo while simultaneously applying for trademark registration in Georgia and the European Union.
In 2022, all intellectual property related to the trademark was transferred from City Loft to Aviator LLC, a land-based gaming company in Georgia.
This transfer set the stage for the current legal confrontation, with Aviator LLC initiating an invalidation action to protect its intellectual property rights.