Legal

Ticketmaster cleared in tech patent infringement case

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Ticketmaster has avoided a potential $122m penalty after being cleared of patent infringement in a US court.

A Texas federal jury found that Global eTicket Exchange failed to show that the Live Nation company infringed multiple patents which cover a system for purchasing and exchanging tickets for entertainment events. Bloomberg Law reports that Ticketmaster could have been on the hook for damages of up to $122m.

Delaware-based Global eTicket began action against Ticketmaster in April 2021 over patents filed in 2014 and 2019. According to Global eTicket’s complaint, the Ticketmaster technology at issue concerns customer verification and is capable of enhancing security and fraud protection for online systems and venue access control.

The complainant contended that Ticketmaster incorporated infringing technology into platforms such as its TM+ integrated primary and secondary platform.

Ticketmaster had attempted to get the case dismissed and in July 2022 asserted that the accused systems do not infringe the patents and argued that the infringing technology is invalid as anticipated or obvious.

The trial at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in Waco began on Monday (May 4), with the jury delivering its verdict on Thursday.

GEE, which was founded in 1999, has nine issued patents in eight countries for its proprietary technology for the electronic ticket market.