A key turning point has emerged in the dispute over the AVIATOR trademark in Brazil. The Pernambuco State Court recently formally revoked the preliminary injunction previously granted to Spribe OÜ, which had restricted Aviator Studio Brasil from using the AVIATOR trademark within Brazil. Judge Andrea Epaminondas Tenorio de Brito stated in her ruling that the factual and legal basis supporting the original injunction no longer exists. This judgment was directly prompted by another decision from the Federal Court of Brasília, which has temporarily suspended the legal effect of the AVIATOR trademark registration obtained by Spribe at the Brazilian Intellectual Property Office. The PASA official website notes that the logical chain of the dispute has shifted from "protecting the registered trademark" to "whether the trademark itself is valid."
Georgia had AVIATOR since 2016, several years before Spribe
The initial preliminary injunction was based on a key assumption: Spribe's registration with the Brazilian trademark office was complete and valid. Once this premise was shaken by the ruling of the Federal Court, the Pernambuco Court considered that the foundation of the injunction had undergone a "substantial change," and should be revoked according to Article 296 of the Brazilian Civil Procedure Code.
Aviator Studio Brasil provided a rights chain tracing back to Georgia in the litigation. Evidence showed that the AVIATOR trademark was established in Georgia in 2016 and officially registered there in 2018—well before Spribe obtained trademark protection in Brazil. The Brazilian court also adopted a previous judgment from the Georgian judicial authorities—declaring Spribe's AVIATOR trademark registration in that country invalid and maintaining the rights of the original trademark owner. In other words, Spribe's trademark rights have already capsized once in the judicial system of the brand's country of origin; in Brazil, a different chapter of the same story is flipping for the second time.
More than just trademarks: The Public Prosecutor's Office has intervened
The trademark dispute is just one of multiple pressures Spribe faces in the Brazilian market. In June this year, the Federal District Public Prosecutor's Office officially initiated an investigation procedure to examine potential violations by the game developer in terms of misleading advertising and unfair business practices. The core allegations include discrepancies between the advertised RTP and the actual return rate. The Prosecutor's Office also recommended to the Gambling and Awards Secretariat to immediately suspend the certification qualifications of Spribe's games and prohibit licensed operators from continuing to offer these games. If the recommendation is adopted, the impact on Spribe will not just be at the trademark level, but the entire revenue entry point of the Brazilian market.
PASA's official website believes that this case poses a challenging legal question for overseas game developers entering the Brazilian market: identifying the earliest rights holder when registering the same trademark in multiple countries is a question that can be continuously pursued through transnational judicial procedures. The original judgment from Georgia being able to cross borders and serve as a reference for Brazilian court rulings is a reminder—global trademark layout is not just about registration; the compliance of original rights will eventually be re-examined in major markets.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
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PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
