A New Jersey judge’s dismissal of that state’s lawsuit against TicketNetwork Inc. could expand the public access to tickets to concerts and other entertainment events, the Vernon company’s CEO says.
In dismissing the May 2009 suit brought by New Jersey’s attorney general, Judge Patricia K. Â Costello ruled Tuesday that under federal law TicketNetwork is not liable for misleading information about the availability of tickets provided by third-party ticket sellers.
Attorney General Anne Milgram sued after tickets to a scheduled Bruce Springsteen concert in the Meadowlands in June 2009 appeared on TicketNetwork.com six days before they officially went on sale to the general public via other outlets, including rival TicketMaster.
Eight-year-old TicketNetwork itself doesn’t buy or sell event tickets, but instead offers an electronic forum for matching buyers and sellers, TicketNetwork CEO Donald Vaccaro said in a statement Wednesday announcing the dismissal.
The suit shed light on the routine practice, Vaccaro said, of artists holding a large number of tickets in reserve instead of releasing all of them to the public. Their scarcity has the effect of raising demand and thus prices on the secondary ticket market.
The suit’s dismissal may curtail, if not end, that practice, Vaccaro said.
“This decision will allow consumers in New Jersey and nationwide to have a greater selection of tickets to events,” he said.
Vaccaro said TicketNetwork has policies in place to ensure its third-party sellers comply with the Federal Trade Commission guidelines for selling tickets prior to the public on-sale.
