SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the month of July, 2008
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation of registrant's name into English)
c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address of principal executive offices)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form 20-F..X.. Form 40-F.....
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the
Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934.
Yes ..... No ..X..
If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant
in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________
RYANAIR WINS COURT ORDER AGAINST GERMAN SCREEN
SCRAPING WEBSITE
Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline today
(Thursday, 10
th
July 2008)
confirmed that it had secured an injunction in the
Hamburg Regional
Court against one of Germany's largest screenscraping companies Vtours GmBH.
This order effectively prevents Vtours GmBH from unlawfully accessing Ryanair's
website, and presenting Ryanair's flights and timetables for sale to Vtours
GmBH
customers.
Ryanair, which is the only
European
airline to guarantee the lowest fares
(and no surcharges)
on every route it flies, has a policy of bannin
g these unlawful screenscrapers
wherever third party companies attempt to misuse and
/or
mis
-
sell details of Ryanair's flights and pricing. Ryanair explained that their
objections to these third party screen scrapers are based on the following:
-
These screenscrapers are in breach of Ryanair.com's copyright and terms of
use.
-
Many of these screenscrapers charge consumers a handling
fee
for their non existent service
of showing them Ryanair's lowest prices
.
-
Many of the screenscrapers fail to provide passengers with Ryanair's terms
and conditions of travel.
-
Many of these screenscrapers do not pass on Ryanair
e-mail
messages about flight changes, delays or policy changes.
-
Many of these screenscrapers are unlawfully using Ryanair's lowest fares to
mis
-
sell higher cost accommodation,
car hire
and travel insurance to intending Ryanair passengers,
compared to what
are available to those passengers at lower cost on Ryanair.com's
website.
Since
www.ryanair.com
is the only travel website with the lowest air fares in
Europe
, these screenscrapers are breaking both Ryanair's copyright and terms of use. They
are similar to video or software pirates, in that they are pretending to present
Ryanair flights as their own
service
and are engaged in blatant mis
-
selling and
/or
overcharging passengers for their non existent services. Ryanair welcomes the
decision by the
Hamburg Regional
Court
in
Germany
and welcomes the fact that Vtours GmBH from today is legally prohibited from
engaging in th
is
unlawful screenscraping practice.
Ryanair'
s Michael Cawley said today:
"We welcome this decision by the
Hamburg Regional
Court
in
Germany
. Screenscraping is an unlawful activity which is a breach of Ryanair's
copyright and the terms of use of
www.ryanair.com
. It is simply unacceptable that consumers are being misled by these
screenscrapers into paying "handling charges" for Ryanair's flights which they can
purchase
the same flights
with no handling charge on
www.r
yanair.com.
W
e remain deeply concerned at the failure of many of these screenscrapers to
properly communicate Ryanair's terms and conditions, our policies
or up to date flight changes and flight information, to customers who
mistakenly believe that they have made bookings directly with Ryanair.
"
Ryanair believes these screenscrapers are nothing more than video or software
pirates and we will continue to campaign across Europe for legislation to
prohib
it this unlawful screenscraping
and this breach of copyright laws,
which will prevent these profiteering middlemen from engaging in the mis
-
selling of Ryanair's flights and information.
"Ryanair believes that this groundbreaking Court ruling in
Germany
will be the first of a series of such pro-consumer decisions
across
Europe
".
Ends.
Thursday, 10
th
July 2008
please contact:
Stephen McNamara
Pauline
McAlester
Ryanair Ltd
Murray
Consultants
Tel: +353-1-8121212
Tel. +353-1-4980300
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly
authorized.
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
Date: 10 July 2008
By:___/s/ James Callaghan____
James Callaghan
Company Secretary & Finance Director