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American Airlines airplanes are docked at gates Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, at DFW International Airport. (Yfat Yossifor | KERA News)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/American-Airlines-gigafact-e1721421235357.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/American-Airlines-gigafact-e1721421235357.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Fort Worth-based American Airlines was awarded $9.4 million by a jury in its lawsuit against a New York company that promotes throwaway ticketing to help travelers save money.Jurors in the federal court trial on Oct. 15 ordered Skiplagged Inc. to pay American $4.7 million in actual damages for copyright infringement as well as $4.7 million for disgorgement, a court-mandated repayment from ill-gotten gains, according to Texas Lawbook.American sought $94 million to stop the practice known as skiplagging, which the airline said caused it to lose millions in revenue when travelers booked a flight with a connecting city but departed the plane in the layover city. That practice cost the company millions, American said in court documents.“American is pleased the jury recognized that Skiplagged infringed its valuable trademarks and awarded $9.4 million in damages for copyright infringement,” the carrier said in a statement to the Fort Worth Report. “This was an important next step in protecting American’s intellectual property and valuable brand.”The Fort Worth federal trial, overseen by Judge Mark T. Pittman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, also sought damages for trademark infringement, but the jury did not order an award for that claim.Fort Worth attorney William Kirkman, who represented Skiplagged, said he was pleased with the jury’s decision on the trademark claim asserted by American.The damages for the copyright claim are not yet finalized, Kirkman told the Fort Worth Report.“There are additional phases of the trial that need to take place before a final determination can be entered,” Kirkman said, adding that he was cautiously optimistic about that process in which the judge will make a ruling on issues regarding the lawsuit. The jury’s award could be lessened or dismissed, Kirkman said.American earned hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales made on the Skiplagged site and did not deserve financial compensation, Kirkman said.Skiplagged, which denied American’s claim in court filings, had accused the airline of “monopolistic and predatory pricing practices,” court documents show. The use of American’s logo on Skiplagged’s website misled customers into believing that the site was an authorized agent or site affiliated with the airline, the suit asserted. The carrier’s contracts with authorized partners such as Priceline, Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia, prohibit the use of throwaway ticketing.In a separate legal proceeding, American was recently awarded $1 in attorney fees from an antitrust lawsuit filed by U.S. Airways in 2011 against Sabre Corp., the nation’s largest operator of electronic network travel agents, Reuters reported.American, which handled the suit after its merger with U.S. Airways, sought more than $139 million in legal fees for more than a decade of work on the case. The suit claimed Sabre impeded travel agents and others with a restrictive distribution agreement that forced them from using less expensive alternatives for booking seats.Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.