The Pernambuco Court of Justice has overturned a preliminary injunction that was previously issued to Spribe OÜ regarding the AVIATOR trademark in Brazil. This ruling comes after a substantial shift in the legal situation that justified the earlier court decision.
In a ruling by Judge Andrea Epaminondas Tenorio de Brito, the court determined that the factual and legal grounds for the initial injunction were no longer valid. This shift was prompted by a ruling from the Federal Court in Brasília, which provisionally suspended the effects of Spribe’s AVIATOR trademark registration in Brazil.
Consequently, the court instructed Spribe to refrain from making exclusivity claims based on that registration until the federal invalidation process is completed. The Pernambuco Court clarified that its previous ruling relied on the assumption that Spribe’s trademark registration at the Brazilian Property and Trademarks Office was entirely legitimate and enforceable.
Following the Federal Court's suspension of that registration's legal effects, the court found that the justification for the preliminary injunction had significantly changed, necessitating its revocation under Article 296 of the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure.
Additionally, in June, the Federal District and Territories' Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into alleged abusive practices by the game developer, focusing on misleading advertising and unfair commercial conduct. The inquiry alleged discrepancies between the advertised and actual Return to Player (RTP) rates. The Prosecutor recommended that the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets promptly suspend the technical certification of Spribe's games and prohibit their availability on licensed platforms.
This action was initiated by Aviator Studio Brasil, which presented evidence indicating that the AVIATOR trademark was established and utilized well before Spribe achieved local trademark protection. It was found that the Aviator trademark began in Georgia in 2016 and received formal registration there in 2018, prior to Spribe's Brazilian trademark registration. The court also considered earlier judicial decisions from Georgia that rendered Spribe's AVIATOR registration invalid and upheld the rights of the original trademark holder.
