StubHub Suit Dismissed

StubHub’s suit, filed in the northern district of California March 2, brought forth claims including unlawful tying, restraint of trade, conspiracy to monopolize, violation of the Cartwright Act, violation of California’s Unfair Competition law and tortious interference.

The complaint alleged TM and the Warriors canceled fans’ regular-season and playoff-game tickets when they used StubHub and other exchanges to resell tickets, and in some cases threatened fans with cancellation of tickets to force them to use Ticketmaster’s resale exchange exclusively.

“If the anti-competitive actions complained herein are not stopped, Ticketmaster is likely to seek to replicate them with other teams,” the suit said. “As a result, millions of Americans will be held captive to a monopoly secondary ticketing exchange.” But U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney disagreed in her Nov. 5 order, explaining she was not persuaded by StubHub’s arguments regarding primary and secondary ticket markets.

“StubHub’s Sherman Act claims are based on a theory that there exist two separate product markets for Warriors tickets to games played at Oracle Arena, the difference between those markets being whether the purchaser obtains from the supplier a ‘primary’ ticket or a ‘secondary’ ticket,” she wrote.

Chesney explained that within the scope of the case, both primary and secondary market tickets are “reasonably interchangeable.”

She also said StubHub cannot make antitrust claims against the Warriors for the sale of the team’s own tickets as “the natural monopoly every manufacturer has in the production and sale of its own product cannot be the basis for antitrust liability.”

StubHub’s suit was seeking an order to enjoin TM and the Warriors from continuing their efforts to limit competition in the market, damages, costs and attorneys’ fees. Chesney gave the company until Nov. 30 to amend its claims.

“Ticketmaster is pleased with the Court’s ruling dismissing StubHub’s first amended complaint,” the company said in a statement. “Ticketmaster provides a superior ticketing product for both fans and content owners alike and will continue to vigorously and fairly compete in the marketplace by providing content owners with more secure and innovative ways to connect with fans, and providing fans with cutting-edge, superior ticketing services.”