Key Points
- On 25 May 2026, the Court of First Instance of Curaçao invalidated two trademark registrations of Aviator LLC in a default judgment as the company had not appeared despite having been summoned.
- Spribe’s trademark in Curaçao registered in August 2023 is prior to the two registrations made by Aviator LLC and was one of the decisive factors for the court.
- A judgment made by the Georgian Supreme Court about the rights to the trademark belonging to Aviator LLC remains unopposed, and an entire trial in the UK is expected in the latter part of 2026 or early 2027.
Curaçao Court Strikes Two Aviator LLC Registrations From the Local Register
The Court of First Instance of Curaçao ruled, according to the decision of May 25, 2026, to cancel the trademark registrations belonging to Aviator LLC because of a violation, thus, enabling Spribe to obtain a default judgment against the company from Tbilisi, which was summoned but did not respond. Four days later, the Court of First Instance of Curaçao released a corrected copy of the decision due to some mistakes in the registration numbers.
The two voided registrations cover international registration IR 1822051, a combined word and figurative Aviator mark in classes 9, 28 and 41, and IR 1827771, the word mark AVIATOR in classes 9, 41 and 42. Both were filed in Aviator LLC’s name during 2024 and designated Curaçao through the Madrid Protocol. One of the filings originated with Rational Intellectual Holdings Limited before being transferred to Aviator LLC in March 2025, a transfer Spribe told the court had been made without its consent.
Spribe holds an earlier Curaçao registration, IR 1759803, granted in August 2023. That prior date was central to the outcome. With Aviator LLC absent, the court accepted Spribe’s position and ordered the two competing registrations removed. Aviator LLC was also ordered to pay legal costs fixed at just over Cg 2,196 (approximately €1,063), with further costs applicable if formal service of the judgment is required. The Bureau for Intellectual Property in Curaçao recorded the cancellation as effective from 25 May 2026.
Curaçao licences a large share of international operators serving markets without their own regulatory framework, making clean trademark rights there directly relevant to Spribe’s operator relationships. Spribe’s Aviator crash game runs across more than 4,500 brands and is played by more than 35 million users per month, according to figures the company cited in the Georgian proceedings.
Who Is Behind Aviator LLC?
The Curaçao judgment sets out the corporate connections at the heart of the dispute. Aviator LLC is affiliated with Spribe’s former Georgian licensee, which was itself previously named Aviator LLC before being renamed AB Georgia LLC. Under agreements signed in 2018 and 2021, that Georgian entity was authorised to operate the Aviator game exclusively in Georgia and Armenia.
Aviator LLC is a company founded by Temur Ugulava, the previous owner of Adjarabet until Flutter Entertainment bought the company in May 2022. The terms of the sale agreement stated that the Aviator trademark was not included in the deal. Ugulava kept his rights to the trademark and sold it to Aviator LLC, which now uses them as a basis for its worldwide IP claim against Spribe. Spribe claims that the Aviator crash game was developed by the company back in 2018 and registered trademarks in 2021-2022.
Aviator LLC’s position is the opposite: the Aviator logo was created in 2017 by the parent company of Adjarabet, before Spribe even existed as a company. Adjarabet instructed Spribe to use the Aviator name and aeroplane image when building the crash game, and never authorised Spribe to register those marks anywhere.
Where Each Court Has Landed?
The Curaçao result is one of the few unambiguous wins Spribe has secured. Elsewhere, courts have mostly moved against it.
Georgia’s Court of First Instance ruled in August 2024 that Spribe’s Georgian trademarks were registered in bad faith and infringed upon the copyright of Aviator LLC, awarding Spribe $330m in damages. Spribe appealed the decision. The Supreme Court of Georgia rejected Spribe’s appeal as inadmissible on 20 May 2025 and thus officially recognised Aviator LLC as the owner of the Aviator trademark and the aeroplane logo in Georgia, the state where the game was developed.
The UK, however, presented a completely different story. In July 2025, the High Court of the UK issued an interim injunction against Aviator LLC, blocking its attempts to launch a competing crash game in the UK. Deputy Judge Michael Tappin KC granted another procedural victory to Spribe in May 2026, deciding that Georgian court rulings could not be automatically enforced under UK law. “Each jurisdiction’s copyright law needs to be considered independently,” said the judge. Tappin KC also rejected Aviator LLC’s request for a separate preliminary hearing regarding the issue of copyright ownership, saying, “I can see no reason why ownership should be plucked out from all the other issues and decided in advance.” The final hearing on the issue of the owner of the Aviator brand is expected to be held in late 2026 or early 2027.
Aviator LLC has not been restricted to defence. It has brought an invalidation suit against Spribe before the European Union Intellectual Property Office regarding a trademark registered by Spribe in 2020, which Aviator LLC believes is similar to the one invalidated in Georgia. In May 2026, it also took up legal action in South Africa against the betting firm Betway.
120 Opposition Proceedings and a Dispute With No Near-Term End
According to the Curaçao judgment, Spribe has filed more than 120 opposition proceedings worldwide against Aviator LLC’s trademark applications and national designations. Aviator LLC is simultaneously pursuing invalidation of Spribe’s marks across multiple jurisdictions, and the picture across territories is fragmented. Spribe holds confirmed trademark rights in Curaçao and interim protection in the UK. Aviator LLC holds a $330m Georgian judgment that has survived appeal, plus active challenges at EUIPO and in South Africa. Spribe stated in the Georgian proceedings: “Spribe created Aviator in 2018 and was the pioneer in the creation and popularisation of the Crash Game sector. Aviator is certified in over 40 jurisdictions and is played by more than 35 million players every month across more than 4,500 brands.” Those figures point to the commercial scale riding on whoever ultimately holds the IP.
Expert Analysis
The Curaçao judgment cannot be taken as an indication that Spribe is prevailing in this battle because the defendant in this matter was Aviator LLC, which failed to challenge the case. In this regard, it is evident that the court did not establish who the author of the Aviator IP is. It is worth noting that Spribe had registered its rights to the game earlier than the claims by Aviator LLC. The battle regarding the rightful author of the game is still ongoing. Georgia, the country most closely related to the creation of the game, has ruled that the rightful owner of the game is Aviator LLC and imposed a liability of $330 million on Spribe.
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