Spribe Studios is the developer of the Aviator casino game. A recent High Court judgement in the United Kingdom has ruled in its favour regarding the release of a possible copycat game.
If you are a sports fan, place bets, or play online casinos, chances are you have seen the familiar Aviator logo. It features a biplane flying high, propeller whirring, with the game’s name in a distinctive font underneath. There have been recent legal battles over who owns this logo and branding, and the battle has now travelled across Europe to the United Kingdom. Taking place between developers Spribe and Aviator LLC, it aimed to block a copycat edition of the game in the United Kingdom.
What is the Aviator Game?
The Aviator game was invented in the country of Georgia. Originally available only in crypto casinos, it became hugely popular and was soon being played all over the globe. It is estimated to have around 12 million players per month. Astonishingly, 350,000 bets are made per minute worldwide on the title.
When playing Aviator, you make a wager based on the path of an on-screen aircraft. As long as it stays in the air, multipliers will increase your total. However, if you don’t cash out before the plane soars off into the stratosphere, then you lose your bet. Easy to get started with and packed with social features, it was a fresh perspective on the iGaming phenomenon when it arrived, and one lapped up around the globe.
The genre it spawned became known as ‘crash’ gaming, and inevitably, it spawned a host of imitators. However, none of these have been made by a company named Aviator LLC, which is a totally separate entity from the original developers, who are named Spribe.
What Was The UK High Court Decision?
On August 1st, 2025, the UK High Court decided that an interim injunction would be granted to Spribe so they could block a game by Aviator LLC, which used the same concept and name as their title. This also prevents it from being marketed in the United Kingdom.
Spribe has owned the license for its game in the United Kingdom since 2020, and the Georgian-based Aviator LLC has recently begun marketing its own offering to Spribe’s customers. The court stated that in the proceedings, Aviator LLC had provided “conflicting and contradictory” evidence, which evaded responsibility. They later went on to add that their approach was childlike and petulant.
The owner of Spribe, David Natroshvili, commented on the move by adding, “I am pleased that the highly respected UK Court supports our position and has granted an injunction preventing Aviator LLC from launching and promoting its copycat game. SPRIBE created the Aviator crash game in 2018 and is the sole owner of the game globally. We will continue to take all necessary steps globally to protect SPRIBE, our partners, and players from any third parties who seek to undermine or infringe our rights.”
Where Does The Issue Stem From?
The battle for intellectual property goes back to 2016. Allegedly, Teimuraz Ugulava created the distinctive logo and filed it at the Georgian State Trademark Agency through a company he owned. The game was launched on an online casino in 2019, which was owned by Ugulava. This site was later sold to a larger international gambling company, but the logo and branding for Aviator were not included in the sale.
Despite this, the online gambling platform, now owned by another company, along with the developers Spribe, continued to use the branding. It was then modified slightly and used internationally. This is where the dispute began, with Spribe claiming it created the game, and also adding that it owns the title and its logo.
In May this year, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in favour of Aviator LLC. They said that Spribes’ trademarks were registered in bad faith and were in violation of Aviator LLC’s copyright. This set a precedent, being the country in which the intellectual property stemmed. They now own the trademark and graphic image of an aircraft associated with it.
There is currently a battle going on at the European Union Intellectual Property Office regarding this. Aviator LLC has filed to acquire ownership of Spribes trademarks. So far, Spribe has asked for three separate extensions to the deadline.
Crash Gaming
Games are actually extremely hard, if not impossible, to copyright. In fact, you can visit most online casinos and find a host of Aviator clones. Some have replaced the aircraft with meteors, astronauts, and even changed it to frogs crossing a road. Yet at their heart, they follow the same concept.
This is why the branding and intellectual property associated with Aviator are so important. Whoever holds it has the keys to the original and most well-known Crash gaming title. By no means is this matter closed, and the European ruling will have a huge impact on how it rolls out globally in the near future.
