Aviator LLC drops trademark lawsuit against Flutter as both parties sign content agreement

Flutter has reached a settlement in the €330 million (£275.9 million/ $342.5 million) copyright and trademark infringement case brought by Georgian business Aviator LLC, after it claimed the operator had infringed on its trademark by offering the hugely popular Aviator crash game.

Aviator LLC initiated its legal case against both Flutter and Spribe, the developer of the hugely popular crash game Aviator, in August in Georgia’s Court of the First Instance.  Notably, Aviator LLC is controlled by the former owner of local gambling brand Adjarabet, which was acquired by Flutter in 2019.  

At the time the case was initiated, Aviator said Spribe’s hit game copied its trademarked image and it was therefore claiming damages. In September Spribe took to LinkedIn to reassure the sector it had its own aviator trademark for the game.

“SPRIBE is the creator and proud owner of the Aviator game globally, with the IP (copyright, trademark) protected worldwide and owned exclusively by us. Aviator is certified in over 40 jurisdictions and is played by more than 35 million players every month across more than 4,500 brands,” it said.

There were a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the case, particularly as both Flutter and Spribe said the case was lacking merit. Both firms were ordered to pay damages to Aviator LLC and curiously the €330 million penalty was the exact amount paid by Flutter for the Adjarabet business.  

In September sources close to Flutter said the operator was surprised by the ruling and was planning an appeal, believing the claim to be “without any merit whatsoever”. 

Aviator, Flutter agree to commercial deal for branded games

News on the case went quiet for a few months until yesterday (30 January) when Aviator LLC’s lawyer, Nikoloz Gogilidze, issued a statement noting that Flutter and Aviator had agreed to a long-term commercial deal to provide Aviator-branded games to Flutter.  

The statement said: “As part of the deal both parties have agreed to settle their outstanding legal dispute.”  

Responding to the questions from iGB, Gogilidze said Flutter and its subsidiaries had recognised Aviator LLC’s rights to the TM Aviator and airplane image and both parties had dropped all litigations against each other. 

“Parties agreed on long-term cooperation which involves the integration of Aviator LLC’s or its affiliates games on Flutter’s platforms globally,” he said. “I am not authorised to reveal all the details of the settlement as some parts of it are confidential.” 

Gogilidze confirmed that the settlement only related to Flutter, and Aviator LLC’s case against Spribe was still in force. He said this dispute was ongoing in a number of jurisdictions.  

Its case against Spribe relates to the use of the aviator imagery within Spribe’s crash game. However Spribe pulled the game from the Georgian market in January 2024 as the market was never a major source of revenue for the company.

“We will soon be issuing a respective release on a status update of the said legal proceedings,” Gogilidze told iGB.