CYBERLAW
American Airlines, Inc. v. FareChase, Inc.
Case No. 067-194022-02 (Texas, 67th Dist., Mar. 8, 2003).
FareChase, Inc., is a search engine whose customers are travel agencies. Its software scours-or scrapes the Web sites of airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies to find the best rates. In February, 2003, American Airlines (AA) won an injunction against FareChase, alleging that FareChase scraped AA's site and took information without its permission. AA also claimed that FareChase violated the law of "trespass to chattels" or interfering with someone's ownership of goods. Even though AA's Web site, AA.com, is a public site, its home page contains a statement restricting the use of the information on its site.
Ruling and Resolution
FareChase appealed the ruling on the grounds that the statement on AA's home page used a shrinkwrap or browsewrap agreement, which unfairly limits the use of facts. AA eventually settled with FareChase. According to the settlement, AA agreed to let FareChase search its site with some restrictions.
Critical Thinking Did FareChase have any type of contract with American Airlines? Do you think that FareChase did need a contract allowing the search of a public Web site? Why or why not?
