Screen scraping is the term used for one website's automatic
gathering of information from another website. Many websites in the
airline and insurance businesses welcome screen scraping by
aggregators as a way of generating new business, but Ryanair
opposes the practice.
It has just begun a case in Dublin's Commercial Court against
Bravofly aimed at stopping it from using Ryanair's data. Bravofly
is a search and booking service for budget airlines.
Ryanair is claiming that Bravofly's alleged activities break
laws on trade marks and copyright and amount to 'passing off'.
"We are taking this case because their behaviour violates our
terms and conditions which state very clearly that you can't make
any commercial use of our website," said a Ryanair spokesman.
Ryanair has asked the court for an injunction preventing
Bravofly from continuing its activities and for exemplary damages
and an account of profits for alleged interference with Ryanair's
economic interests.
Ryanair has previously complained to Lastminute.com about its
practices, alleging that that firm was engaging in screen
scraping.
The Ryanair spokesman also told OUT-LAW that the company was in
the late stages of a similar case in Germany where the company had
taken action against an alleged screen scraper, though the results
of the case are not yet known.
Other airlines have taken similar action in the past. EasyJet
confirmed last month that it had sent warnings to a number of
websites, including Expedia.co.uk, instructing them to stop alleged
scraping.
Technology law expert Struan Robertson told OUT-LAW Radio
recently that while companies could argue that their terms and
conditions were broken, that may not stand up in court.
"The site that is being scraped might say that its terms and
conditions forbid any form of scraping. The site that is doing the
scraping might say 'well, those terms and conditions do not count,
they are not incorporated into any contract we have with you,'" he
said. "It may be a fair argument if those terms of use are just an
optional link like they are on Ryanair's website."
Robertson said that asserting a breach of database rights might
be a more powerful argument.
Ryanair said that it objected to Bravofly's use of its flights
as one of its products. "We make a really big effort to be Europe's
cheapest low fares airline and then these companies top up our
basic fare," said the spokesman.
"It's not like the customer is getting an extra service, so this
is obviously not in our or our passengers' best interests," he
said.
