SPRIBE wins UK court block on Aviator copycat crash game as global IP dispute with Georgian firm heats up. Trial expected in 2026 or 2027.
Aviator is a well-known Crash game in the UK, while across the globe, it is a popular provably fair game in cryptocurrency casinos. It is a popular company in Georgia that copied it, sparking a legal dispute.
The end result has been an injunction issued by the UK High Court against an alleged copycat company from marketing or supplying online casinos with the game in the UK.
With that said, some of Spribe’s broader injunction requests, like banning all public claims by Aviator LLC, making statements claiming IP ownership, and promoting the game, were rejected by Judge Mann as the current injunction already protects SPRIBE sufficiently.
Given the game’s popularity, it is no surprise that Georgian entity Aviator LLC has apparently attempted to copy it. However, the company denies it intended to launch the game. However, Spribe is said to have used promotional material and branding created by Aviator LCC as evidence to the contrary.
The fact that the company name is an exact match of the crash game name feels like a giveaway, but there appears to be an explanation behind the naming, which I will cover below in more detail.
For the time being, it appears that the UK courts have issued an interim injunction, which is likely to remain in place for the long term. In the meantime, Aviator LLC has not applied for a UKGC licensing certificate, and if it did, it would take up to a year for approval, at which point the case would appear in court.
The UK laws on copyright infringements are strict across all industries, including within software and gaming. Yet, Aviator LCC is fighting back, and a court case is expected sometime in 2026 or 2027.
Source: The report covering the legal points of the IP Trail is covered on the Law360 website – Gambling Biz Can’t Launch ‘Aviator’.
Court Battles Spill Over From Georgia
A legal battle over the Aviator crash game, which began in Georgia between Spribe and Aviator LLC, has escalated beyond national borders. The Georgian court ruled in favour of Aviator LLC, awarding €330 million in damages and invalidating Spribe’s Aviator trademark locally, the same amount Flutter paid to acquire Adjarabet, Georgia’s top gambling brand.
Spribe, which launched Aviator in 2019, argues the ruling only applies to Georgia and Armenia, where Adjarabet once held exclusive rights. The game, now licensed in over 40 markets and played by 35 million users monthly, remains unaffected elsewhere.
Aviator LLC has since settled with Flutter to supply its branded games, while hinting at similar legal action in other countries. Spribe continues to contest the Georgian judgment, with the full case expected to take years to resolve.
About Aviator
Aviator is a crash game popular at online casinos, and I’ve seen it played by gamblers on multiple streams. Aviator was released in 2018, with version 2.0 released in 2019. This version is 40% faster than the original and is also a lightweight version, designed to help users with slow internet access and those playing on mobile devices gain smoother access.
Aviator has won two key awards since its release:
- SIGMA Europe 2023 – Most Played Game
- EGR Operators Awards 2023 – Game of the Year
Within the Malta Gaming Authority and UKGC iGaming markets, the game is available using an RNG (random number generator) and fiat currency.
In the Anjouan, KGC and Curacao iGaming jurisdictions, Aviator is available with both RNGs and provably fair algorithms. The latter is popular amongst crypto players who want to verify results using the provably fair hashing system.
As for the game’s RTP, it is a consistent 97% RTP and is marketed on the Spribe website as a Mini Game.
The gameplay is simple. You place a bet and the plane launches. The higher it rises, the higher the multiplier. As a player, you’ll need to select when to get out of the game before the plane crashes. If you don’t get out on time, then you crash and lose your bet. The idea is to let the multiplier rise as high as possible, but it’s an unpredictable game and frustrating at times, especially when you cash out too early and watch the multiplier rise way past the point you exited.
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