The Pernambuco Court of Justice has withdrawn a preliminary injunction that was earlier granted to Spribe OÜ regarding the use of the AVIATOR trademark in Brazil. This decision comes after significant changes in the legal environment that supported the initial ruling.
Judge Andrea Epaminondas Tenorio de Brito issued a ruling stating that the factual and legal grounds for the original injunction have been altered. This shift follows a decision by the Federal Court in Brasília, which provisionally suspended the legal effects of Spribe’s AVIATOR trademark registration in Brazil.
As a result of this latest decision, the court has mandated that Spribe refrain from asserting exclusivity over the trademark until the federal invalidation proceeding is settled.
The Pernambuco Court clarified that its earlier ruling was based on the assumption that Spribe’s trademark registration with the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office was entirely valid. However, with the Federal Court's suspension of that registration's legal effects, the court determined that the basis for the preliminary injunction had significantly changed, leading to its revocation in accordance with Article 296 of the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure.
In a related matter, in June, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Federal District and Territories initiated an investigation into assertive claims made by the game developer regarding misleading advertising and unfair business practices. Allegations included discrepancies between the advertised and actual RTP (Return to Player) rates. The Prosecutor's Office advised the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets to promptly suspend the technical certification of Spribe’s games and prohibit their operation by licensed operators.
This action stemmed from a lawsuit by Aviator Studio Brasil, which provided evidence that the AVIATOR trademark had been developed and utilized several years before Spribe secured its local protection. The court confirmed that the AVIATOR trademark originated in Georgia in 2016 and was officially registered there in 2018, predating Spribe's Brazilian registration.
Additionally, previous court rulings in Georgia that annulled Spribe's registration of the AVIATOR trademark were considered, reinforcing the rights of the original trademark holder.
