Cooley Secures Decisive Win for Booking.com in Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Case

San Francisco – January 22, 2025 - In one of the first civil US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) cases to go to trial, Cooley secured a decisive win on behalf of its client, Booking.com, against Ryanair.

Sitting by designation in the District of Delaware, Judge William Bryson of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted Booking.com’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, overturning the jury’s verdict on two CFAA counts in a July 2024 trial. In that trial, Cooley secured the dismissal of four of the five original defendants, and Ryanair only narrowly prevailed, with the jury awarding it the statutory minimum of $5,000. Judge Bryson’s order also overturned that award.

In granting judgment to Booking.com on both accounts, Judge Bryson determined that Ryanair “did not meet its burden of proving at least $5,000 of loss attributable to Booking.com, which is a prerequisite to any finding of civil liability under the CFAA.” Additionally, in throwing out Ryanair’s fraud claim, Judge Bryson determined that Booking.com did not obtain more than $5,000 in value from the use of the Ryanair website.

Judge Bryson’s decision is notable in its thorough treatment of the loss threshold for any CFAA civil claim and the exacting showing a plaintiff must make through trial. His order provides a road map for how to prove and defeat civil CFAA claims in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision in Van Buren v. United States, 593 US 374 (2021).

The Cooley team representing Booking.com was led by John Hemann, Kathleen Hartnett and Kristine Forderer, assisted by Alex Kasner, Jessie Simpson LaGoy and Zoë Helstrom. Co-counsel from Richards, Layton & Finger included Jeffrey Moyer and Alexandra Ewing.

The case is Ryanair DAC v. Booking.com B.V. before the US District Court for the District of Delaware, Civil Action No. 20-1191-WCB.

Read the opinion and order

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