Spribe Awarded UK High Court Procedural Ruling in Copyright Battle

Crash game supplier Spribe has been awarded a procedural ruling in its copyright dispute with Aviator LLC, as a High Court judge decided foreign law rather than English law alone will be used to govern the case.

What is the dispute about?

The case 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.

Case extends to the UK

Last July, 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.”

In the most recent judgment, Michael Tappin KC was tasked with deciding whether Georgian courts can prevent parts of the dispute from being relitigated in other countries. Aviator LLC is not just pursuing claims under UK law, but also across multiple countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention.

This ruling means the UK court will not only apply English law to decide whether previous judgments in Georgia are legally binding; Aviator LLC is hoping the previous awarding of compensation in Georgia can apply again in this case under English law. The court must identify and apply the laws of the relevant foreign jurisdictions where earlier decisions were made.

In his ruling, Tappin said:

“A rule of law relating to preclusive effect, which states whether a party is prevented from disputing (or establishing, as the case may be) one or more elements of a cause of action for an infringement of an intellectual property right, is part of the applicable law under Articles 8 and 15.”

Aviator LLC had also applied for a separate hearing on copyright ownership, but Tappin ruled the two issues are too intertwined to be judged separately. Tappin stated:

“I can see no reason why ownership should be plucked out from all the other issues and decided in advance.”

What happens next?

The ruling 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.

Spribe’s UK license was temporarily suspended by the Commission last October, after Spribe was informed it needed to add a hosting license to its existing one.