Key Points
- Aviator won its appeal in its legal case with Spribe
- The dispute is about ownership rights of a plane image
- English law can now be applied consistently to the case
The UK’s Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Aviator LLC in its copyright dispute with crash game supplier Spribe, overturning a previous High Court ruling in May and determining English law can be applied consistently to govern the case.
What’s the argument about?
The issue relates to which party can claim ownership to the rights to the specific plane image used in Aviator-branded crash games. Aviator LLC is pursuing copyright claims against Spribe, in a dispute which originated in the two companies’ native Georgia but extended to the UK after Aviator LLC initiated proceedings in 2024.
The image of the plane is deemed important to the success of the crash game. Spribe launched its Aviator game in February 2019 on Adjarabet.com; a 51% controlling stake in Adjarabet was sold to Flutter Entertainment that same month for £101 million. Aviator LLC is controlled by Temur Ugulava, the former owner of Adjarabet.
Following the launch of its Aviator game, Spribe then registered its own Aviator trademarks for computer games and gambling services. Aviator LLC then responded by filing a lawsuit, claiming the trademarks were registered in bad faith and that they infringed on its copyright. In August 2024, the Georgian Court of the First Instance awarded Aviator LLC $330 million in compensation for Spribe’s past use.
Previous ruling
Back in May, Spribe was awarded a procedural ruling by the High Court, with the judge deciding foreign law rather than English law alone should be used to govern the case. However, this decision has now been overturned by the Court of Appeal, deciding a foreign judgment in English proceedings is governed by the law of the court hearing the case.
The Court of Appeal has not provided a final ruling on the case, but has instead provided clarity on whether English law can be applied consistently when deciding whether an earlier foreign judgment prevents an issue from being relitigated.
This ruling, like the previous ruling in May, did not concern who owns the Aviator IP or whether Aviator LLC’s planned launch would infringe on Spribe’s copyright; the case is set to continue in a full trial. Spribe has operated Aviator in the UK since being granted a license by the Gambling Commission in 2020.
In July 2025, Spribe was granted an interim injunction to block Aviator LLC from launching a competing crash game in the UK, pending a full trial. Spribe has previously accused Aviator LLC of planning to launch a “copycat” game in the country, which Spribe has said “blatantly infringes the copyright works which Spribe owns in its game.”
UK license issue
Spribe’s UK license was temporarily suspended by the Commission in October 2025, after Spribe was informed it needed to add a hosting license to its existing one. The Commission announced Spribe OÜ’s operating license was suspended while it carried out a review, due to “serious” non-compliance with the hosting requirements of the Commission’s licensing framework. The suspension was lifted in late March.
The Commission issued a warning to Spribe, after it was found to have operated without the appropriate license between May 28, 2021 and October 30, 2025. Spribe’s licensee page on the Commission’s website still shows its game host license as “pending”. However, the Commission said Spribe co-operated throughout the investigation and took corrective steps to address the identified concerns.
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