Ticketmaster reportedly sues eBay, StubHub

The ticket retailer alleges the online auction house and its subsidiary violated contractual rights to sell tickets, a newspaper reports.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The world's largest ticket retailer, Ticketmaster, has sued eBay Inc. and its StubHub subsidiary, alleging that the online auction leader violated the company's contractual rights, according to a published report Thursday.

The suit filed by Ticketmaster, a subsidiary of IAC/InterActiveCorp. (down $0.23 to $38.31, Charts, Fortune 500), said eBay's (down $1.25 to $33.20, Charts, Fortune 500) StubHub is currently selling "official premium tickets" to an upcoming concert, which violates the ticket retailer's exclusive rights to sell tickets to events at the venues on tour, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The suit charges that sales of tickets from StubHub to the Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams Jr. "Rowdy Frynds" tour on May 5 in Charleston, W. Va., were selling for $250 each. Ticketmaster's highest ticket price for the tour is $70.

The company is seeking all of StubHub's revenue from the "Rowdy Frynds" tour, in addition to punitive damages and a permanent injunction preventing future business practices that violate the company's contractual rights, the Journal said.

The suit also charges that StubHub, along with other unnamed parties, threatened various client venues to obtain tickets, telling them they "might not be considered as venues for future live-entertainment events," the Journal reported.

According to the Journal, the suit did not mention how many tickets were involved, but it alleges the practices were "part of a larger scheme to diminish Ticketmaster's role in the sale of tickets."

The Journal reported a StubHub spokesman said it would be "premature" for the company to comment because it had not seen the documents.

Efforts to reach StubHub by CNNMoney.com were not immediately successful. Top of page

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.