Travel websites are permitted to extract flight data from Ryanair’s website in order to offer it to their customers. The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has ruled that screen scraping is generally permitted.
Lawsuit between Bravo Next / Lastminute.com and Ryanair
In two parallel appellate rulings, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court has confirmed that Bravo Next and lastminute.com acted lawfully and may continue to offer their customers the opportunity to compare and book Ryanair tickets through the group’s websites (Lastminute.com, Volagratis.com, Rumbo.es, Weg.de, Bravofly.com, and others).
The court further found that, despite a protracted, controversial, and ultimately baseless campaign by Ryanair in the European media claiming the opposite, lastminute.com’s online travel agency business does not infringe upon any intellectual property rights or breach any contractual obligations owed to Ryanair.
The court's decision upholds earlier rulings that found lastminute.com's operations to be lawful in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Germany.
Federal Court of Justice Ruling in Favor of Lastminute.com
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe ruled that the extraction of flight data by travel portals does not constitute unfair surreptitious acquisition (Section 4(10) of the Unfair Competition Act (UWG)). In doing so, the Supreme Court overturned an appellate ruling and remanded Ryanair’s lawsuit to the Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Hamburg (ruling of April 30, 2014, case number I ZR 224/12).
Reasons for the Federal Court of Justice’s ruling: Despite the activities of travel portals, the airline is still able to sell its services in a reasonable manner. Furthermore, its ability to compete is not unduly impaired. The failure to comply with Ryanair’s demand to cease screen scraping does not meet the criteria for unfair business practices.
Unlike many other airlines, Ryanair wants to offer its flights exclusively on its own website. For this reason, the airline is trying to prevent any actions by travel portals that constitute screen scraping.
However, the Federal Court of Justice’s ruling should not be interpreted as a free pass for travel websites. According to“LTO,”these sites are only permitted to access flight data from Ryanair and other airlines if doing so does not circumvent any technical security measures. Furthermore, retrieving flight data from the airline’s website must not cause the website to slow down.
Among other things, Ryanair is likely to have the option of implementing technical safeguards to prevent travel websites from accessing its flight data.
Text: FVW
Read more news
We keep you informed about current topics in the tourism industry.
You can find all our articles listed in our News section. Or choose a topic from our news categories and read only the articles related to that topic.