The Pernambuco Court of Justice has annulled the preliminary injunction that was earlier issued to Spribe OÜ amid an ongoing legal struggle concerning the AVIATOR trademark in Brazil. This action comes as a result of a significant alteration in the legal factors that originally justified the injunction.
Judge Andrea Epaminondas Tenorio de Brito delivered the court’s ruling, stating that the factual and legal underpinnings of the prior injunction have dissipated. This follows a decision made by the Federal Court in Brasília, which has provisionally halted the legal effects of Spribe’s AVIATOR trademark registration in the country.
Consequently, the court has instructed Spribe to refrain from claiming exclusive rights based on the now-suspended registration until the federal invalidation case is finalized.
In its decision, the Pernambuco Court clarified that its earlier ruling was predicated on the assumption that Spribe’s trademark registration with the Brazilian Property and Trademarks Office was entirely valid. However, with the Federal Court now suspending the legal effects of that registration, the court found that the rationale for the preliminary injunction had significantly changed, necessitating its revocation under Article 296 of the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure.
In addition to this, investigations into Spribe’s business practices have come to light. In June, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Federal District and Territories initiated an inquiry into the game developer for allegations of misleading advertising and unfair commercial practices. These accusations include a noted discrepancy between marketing claims and the actual Return to Player (RTP) of their games. The Prosecutor's Office has advised the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets to promptly suspend the technical certification of Spribe’s games and prohibit them from operating with licensed operators.
This situation arises from a lawsuit lodged by Aviator Studio Brasil, which revealed that the AVIATOR trademark had been established and utilized before Spribe secured its local trademark protections. The court recognized evidence indicating that the AVIATOR trademark was first registered in Georgia in 2016 and later formally recorded there in 2018, well before Spribe's Brazilian trademark was obtained.
Further backing the court's findings were earlier judicial decisions in Georgia that invalidated Spribe’s AVIATOR trademark registration while affirming the rights of the original trademark holder.
