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U.S. court rules versus Booking.com in Ryanair screen-scraping case

A U.S. court ruled that Booking.com broke the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by accessing part of Ryanair's website without permission, court files revealed, a ruling the airline said would help end unauthorised screen scraping by scheduling sites.

The Irish airline, Europe's largest by passenger numbers, has in current years introduced a series of legal actions against third-party reservation platforms that resell its tickets without permission.

It says the companies, which utilize screen-scraping software application to discover and resell tickets, add added fees and make it challenging for the airline to call guests.

A jury in the District Court of Delaware unanimously discovered that Booking.com violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse act and that it had induced a 3rd party to gain access to parts of Ryanair's. site without authorization with an intent to defraud, the. verdict issued late on Thursday said.

The court also turned down counterclaims by Booking.com that. Ryanair had disparaged the booking platform and that the airline. was participated in unreasonable competition.

We anticipate that this judgment will end the web piracy and. overcharging committed on both airline companies and other travel. business and consumers by the unlawful activity of OTA (online. travel representative) Pirates, Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary. said in a declaration.

He said he hoped the judgment would force customer companies. across Britain and Europe to take action to disallow illegal. screen scraping and overcharging of consumers for flights and. secondary services.

Ryanair has in recent months signed deals with a number of. online travel agents for the authorised resale of the airline company's. tickets.

(source: Reuters)