Ticketmaster Moves to Dismiss FTC Ticket Resale Case
Claims the BOTS Act applies to resellers, not ticketing platforms
Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation have requested a federal judge dismiss the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit in which it accuses the ticketing giant of violating the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act.
The accusations:
In its case the FTC alleges Live Nation and Ticketmaster consciously allowed scalpers to evade ticket limits and use bots to scoop up bulk tickets to then resell on its platform.
The response:
As per Reuters, Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s lawyers are arguing the BOTS Act applies to resellers, not ticketing platforms.
In their motion to dismiss they state that the law “is designed to help ticket issuers like Ticketmaster combat ticket harvesting and scalping, ensuring that tickets are accessible to genuine fans. Plaintiffs now ask this court to take the unprecedented step of applying this law against a ticket issuer for its operation of a resale platform.”
They also argue that the FTC hasn’t proved that Ticketmaster was aware of any circumvention of tech used to prevent bulk ticket purchases.
Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation have requested a federal judge dismiss the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit in which it accuses the ticketing giant of violating the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act.
The accusations:
In its case the FTC alleges Live Nation and Ticketmaster consciously allowed scalpers to evade ticket limits and use bots to scoop up bulk tickets to then resell on its platform.
The response:
As per Reuters, Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s lawyers are arguing the BOTS Act applies to resellers, not ticketing platforms.
In their motion to dismiss they state that the law “is designed to help ticket issuers like Ticketmaster combat ticket harvesting and scalping, ensuring that tickets are accessible to genuine fans. Plaintiffs now ask this court to take the unprecedented step of applying this law against a ticket issuer for its operation of a resale platform.”
They also argue that the FTC hasn’t proved that Ticketmaster was aware of any circumvention of tech used to prevent bulk ticket purchases.
Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation have requested a federal judge dismiss the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit in which it accuses the ticketing giant of violating the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act.
The accusations:
In its case the FTC alleges Live Nation and Ticketmaster consciously allowed scalpers to evade ticket limits and use bots to scoop up bulk tickets to then resell on its platform.
The response:
As per Reuters, Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s lawyers are arguing the BOTS Act applies to resellers, not ticketing platforms.
In their motion to dismiss they state that the law “is designed to help ticket issuers like Ticketmaster combat ticket harvesting and scalping, ensuring that tickets are accessible to genuine fans. Plaintiffs now ask this court to take the unprecedented step of applying this law against a ticket issuer for its operation of a resale platform.”
They also argue that the FTC hasn’t proved that Ticketmaster was aware of any circumvention of tech used to prevent bulk ticket purchases.
Ticketmaster
Live Nation
Federal Trade Commission
Better Online Ticket Sales Act
Reuters
BOTS Act Legal Interpretation
Government Regulation Of Ticketing
Industry Litigation
Industry Response To Federal Ticketing Probe
Legal Scrutiny Of Ticketing Practices
Platform Liability For Seller Actions
Rising Scrutiny Of Ticketing Practices
Antitrust Scrutiny in Live Music
Antitrust
BOTS Act Enforcement
Consumer Protection Law
Government Scrutiny
Litigation
Motion to Dismiss
Ticket Resale
Ticketing
United States
👋 Disclosures & Transparency Block
This story was written with information from Reuters and Music Business Worldwide.
We covered it because it’s an update on the FTC-Ticketmaster case.
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