Two recent web scraping disputes highlight some important issues
regarding whether a website owner may successfully allege a breach
of contract action against a commercial party that has scraped
website content contrary to "clickwrap" and "browsewrap" website terms
of use.
In Southwest Airlines Co. v.
Roundpipe, LLC, No. 18-0033 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 22, 2019), a
Texas district court declined to dismiss Southwest Airlines
Co.'s ("Southwest") breach of contract claim against
an entity that scraped airfare data from Southwest's site in
violation of the website terms of use. Southwest brought multiple
claims against Roundpipe, LLC ("Roundpipe") after it
discovered that Roundpipe had created a website, SWMonkey.com,
that, using scraping, sent consumers notifications if their
Southwest ticket prices decreased after purchase (which would
presumably allow them to exchange the original ticket for a
lower-priced ticket).
