Aviator LLC has won a significant legal battle, winning a $330 million trademark and copyright lawsuit against Spribe OÜ and Fluttery-owned Adjarabet for their use of the Aviator name and logo in a popular crash game.
The Court of First Instance in Georgie ruled in favour of Aviator LLC’s infringement claim, deciding that Spribe had registered its trademark in bad faith while fully aware of the existence of the Aviator brand. This lawsuit sought to prevent Adjarabet from using the copyrighted material associated with the Aviator Crash Game.
The ruling establishes a precedent in the gaming industry that perhaps many more than Adjarabet have ignored. Intellectual property protection in the gaming industry can extend beyond just safeguarding trademark names. Many slots share similar Art, Design and Game Mechanics, yet most ‘copycat’ games go unchallenged by the original developer.
Many have capitalised on the successes of Book of Ra over the years with their own rendition of the popular expanding symbols, creating a whole subgenre of games, but does this tread dangerously close to the choppy waters of intellectual property protection? Book of Dead from Play’n GO stands out as a popular option, as does Reel Kingdom’s Big Bass Bonanza as an alternative to Fishing Frenzy.
The recent victor of Aviator LLC suggests that the line between inspiration and infringement may be finer than previously thought.
