Furious passenger told to give up 'I Hate Ryanair' website

London: A disgruntled passenger who set up a website called I Hate Ryanair to share travel "horror stories" has been ordered to hand over the domain name to the low-cost airline he loathes.

Robert Tyler, from Walthamstow, north-east London, set up the site in February 2007.

He called Ryanair the "world's most hated airline" and "a bunch of filthy thieving b*****s".

Fiercely critical posts included an interview with a man allegedly arrested for refusing to pay for a sandwich, and a lampoon of the airline's comment that it might provide standing room on its flights.

Despite the fiery reputation of Michael O'Leary, the Ryanair boss, who has called the Irish PM a "gobshite", the airline was stung by the criticism and lodged a complaint in April, branding the website "vitriolic and highly disparaging".

In a 22-page judgment, an adjudicator at Nominet, which manages web addresses in Britain, said the case "quite literally turned" on the fact that Tyler had made £322 from commercial links published on the site to travel insurance and currency exchange firms, rather than on the content.

Jane Seager, one of 40 experts who work to resolve the approximately 700 disputes that reach Nominet each year, ruled "criticism websites are essential in a democratic society", and performed a useful service.

The domain name, she added, made it "abundantly clear" the site was not connected to Ryanair and left internet users in no doubt what to expect.

But, in a reference to the site's income from links, she said: "If they draw in internet users by using a domain name containing a company's brand, then they must be wholly devoted to honest criticism and open discussion and not potentially tainted by commercial concerns."

Unfair advantage

The judgment will send a warning to the growing number of websites set up to scrutinise corporations. Others targeted at Ryanair include Ryanair Sucks and the more soberly named Ryanair Campaign.

Ryanair argued that the site took unfair advantage of its name and hosted a number of damaging and defamatory articles.

In his response to the complaint, Tyler said he had done little to smear the Ryanair brand because it had become "synonymous with treating customers in an appalling manner".

The airline's victory was short-lived.

In a posting, it emerged the site moved from ihate-ryanair.co.uk to ihateryan-air.org where "we will continue to provide you with all the latest on how this pathetic excuse for an airline will attempt to extract cash from you through sneaky hidden charges, fly you to places that are not where you actually want to go, and leave you stranded when the cr*p hits the fan."