How a new FlightAware lawsuit threatens Kalshi’s cancellation bets

Kalshi faces a lawsuit in a New York federal court over claims the prediction markets platform is using flight data and a trademark without permission to run bets on airline cancellations.

FlightAware, which operates the world’s largest flight-tracking platform, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York on Monday, seeking damages and an injunction against further use of its data and logo.

Kalshi started offering bets on nationwide and local flight cancellations on July 14, the same day it submitted its regulatory filing to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to list such event contracts. The contracts allow users to bet on the percentage of scheduled flights that would be canceled during a specific period.

FlightAware alleges Kalshi had agreed to terms barring commercial use of its data, including through a fee AeroApi account that a Kalshi employee registered for in 2022.

Kalshi responded to FlightAware’s cease-and-desist letter, denying “it violated FlightAware’s license or infringed the FlightAware mark and asserted that its references to FlightAware constituted nominative fair use.”