Court rules SAS spied on Norwegian Air

OSLO, Norway, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A Norwegian appeals court ordered SAS Group's Norwegian operation to pay $737,000 for conducting corporate espionage against rival Norwegian Air Shuttle.

The Borgarting Court of Appeal in Oslo ruled SAS Norge AS stole and used proprietary information from the discount rival through the Amadeus IT Group's computer reservations system from December 2001 until December 2005.

SAS founded Amadeus, one of five major world reservations systems, with Air France, Deutsche Lufthansa and Iberia Airlines in 1987.

An SAS Norge spokeswoman told Oslo's Aftenposten newspaper the airline was "disappointed and surprised" by the ruling and was considering an appeal to Norway's highest court.

The case had been filed by state prosecutors who had sought a $1.5 million fine.

A lower court had acquitted SAS Norge.