French court condemns lastminute.com for 'parasitism' of Ryanair website

The Paris commercial court has ordered online travel agent lastminute.com to stop selling Ryanair tickets without the consent of the airline, slamming the practice as "parasitism". "By using Ryanair's database" lastminute.com and Lmnext FR, the British company's French operation, "have committed an act of parasitism," the court said in a judgement dated March 20. Ryanair welcomed the ruling for putting a halt to the "free ride" of its website without consent. The case was brought after Ryanair introduced restrictions on the use of its website. These restrictions include banning travel agencies from buying Ryanair flight tickets from its online site. The court ordered the two lastminute companies to pay Ryanair E50,000 for the offence, with a further E1,000 per day payable if the "parasitism" doesn't stop. <br/>