DUBLIN, July 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. court ruled that

Booking.com violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by

accessing part of Ryanair's website without permission, court

documents showed.

The Irish airline, Europe's largest by passenger numbers,

said the ruling would help end unauthorised screen scraping by

booking sites.

Booking.com said it was disappointed with the decisions and

planned to appeal.

Ryanair has in recent years launched a series of legal

actions against third-party booking platforms that resell its

tickets without permission.

It says the companies, which use screen-scraping software to

find and resell tickets, add additional charges and make it

difficult for the airline to contact passengers.

A jury in the District Court of Delaware unanimously found

that Booking.com violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and

that it had induced a third party to access parts of Ryanair's

website without authorization "with an intent to defraud," the

verdict issued late on Thursday said.

The court also rejected counterclaims by Booking.com that

Ryanair had defamed the booking platform and that the airline

was engaged in unfair competition.

"We maintain that allowing customers to access and compare

fares across the travel industry promotes consumer choice," a

spokesperson for Booking.com said in an emailed statement.

Ryanair, which has in recent months signed deals with a

number of online travel agents for the authorised resale of

tickets, said it hoped the ruling would set a precedent.

"We expect that this ruling will end the internet piracy and

overcharging perpetrated on both airlines and other travel

companies and consumers by the unlawful activity of OTA (online

travel agent) Pirates," Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary

said in a statement.

He said he hoped the ruling would force consumer agencies

across Britain and Europe to take action to outlaw illegal

screen scraping and overcharging of consumers for flights and

ancillary services.

(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Susan Fenton)