A judge has rejected low-cost airline Ryanair pre-trial attempt to have Skyscanner’s counterclaim and parts of its defence dismissed.
The budget airline brought proceedings against the price comparison site alleging they are unlawfully “screen scraping” data from its website for commercial gain. The airline claims this is a breach of the use of the terms of its website and its intellectual property rights.
Skyscanner denies it is engaged in the activities alleged and also denies it has offered Ryanair products for sale.
In its counterclaim, Skyscanner is seeking various declarations and damages for alleged infringement of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union claiming the airline is ‘abusing its dominant position in the market’.
High Court’s Mr Justice Michael Quinn said it would be “unsafe” to accede to Ryanair’s request for the strike-out of Skyscanner’s counterclaim and a competition plea in its defence and claimed that it was fundamentally inconsistent for Skyscanner to deny it is engaged in screen scraping while simultaneously alleging the airline is contravening Article 102 by not sharing its flight data for purposes other than price comparison.
