Ticketmaster has been unsuccessful in its request for a delay in its ongoing legal fight with Songkick.
District Court Judge Dale Fischer denied the application for a two-month postponement to the start of the trial, which would have seen the antitrust case rescheduled for early 2018.
Ticketmaster, according to the Amplify website, wanted a delay as it awaited a motion for summary judgement on several counts in the case. But Songkick argued that the delay would hurt it financially and would also cause issues in calling witnesses who are no longer its employees.
The trial will now proceed as previously planned in November.
The Songkick lawsuit initially accused Ticketmaster and Live Nation of anticompetitive acts. Papers filed said that artists who had used the ticketing platform in the past had seen their Ticketmaster featured pages abruptly removed.
However, in February an extra dimension was added when Songkick submitted new claims that staff at Ticketmaster stole trade secrets from the start-up and used them to develop its own rival service.
Songkick alleges that Ticketmaster’s director of client relations Stephen Mead used his position as a former employee of CrowdSurge – with which it merged in 2015 – to steal data.
Songkick sold its concert-recommendation business to Warner last month for an undisclosed sum. It is believed the lawsuit was the reason the ticket business was kept separate from the sale, and it was announced it will continue on its own, under a new name.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation have previously described Songkick’s accusations of being “baseless”.
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