Ryanair Sues German Screenscraper in Irish Court

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline today (28th Jul) announced that it has lodged proceedings in the High Court in Dublin against a German screenscraping ticket-tout, Travelviva AG. Travelviva has been engaged in unauthorised screenscraping and reselling of Ryanair’s flights with unjustified markups and it is refusing to commit to desist from this unauthorised practice in the future. Travelviva has also refused Ryanair’s offer of licensed access to Ryanair.com’s flight information for price comparison purposes, which, in Ryanair’s belief, suggests that Travelviva’s real intention is to continue its unauthorised screenscraping and overcharging of consumers.

This case is part of Ryanair’s ongoing campaign to protect consumers against abusive practices of internet screenscraping ticket-touts. It is the first of a number of Irish High Court actions Ryanair intends to bring over the coming weeks against the other European unauthorised screenscrapers.

Ryanair’s Daniel de Carvalho said:

“Ryanair is determined to continue its crusade against screenscraping ticket-tout websites until the last screenscraper stops overcharging unsuspecting consumers and breaching Ryanair’s copyright and terms of use of www.ryanair.com.

“In recent weeks we have written to various consumer protection and competition agencies in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and the UK, calling on them to investigate the abusive and anti-consumer practices of these unauthorised screenscrapers. At the same time we are pursuing legal actions in Dublin to protect Ryanair’s copyright and other rights. We are confident that unauthorised screenscraping and overcharging of consumers will eventually be outlawed throughout Europe, to the benefit of consumers and legitimate businesses.”

(c) Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Date posted: 29-Jul-09