TicketNetwork, Inc.
The FTC and Connecticut alleged that TicketNetwork and two marketing partners ran resale ticket sites styled as official venue box offices, using paid search ads and mimicked branding, often selling above face value.
Resolved. Refunded, settled, ceased operating, or the claim did not hold up. Kept for the record.
Identity
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- Registrations
- FTC and State of Connecticut v. TicketNetwork, Inc.; Ryadd, Inc.; and SecureBoxOffice, LLC (FTC case 132-3203, D. Conn., 2014)
- Jurisdictions
- United States (federal) · Connecticut
Search ads that looked like the venue
TicketNetwork runs an electronic exchange letting brokers and ticket holders resell tickets on the secondary market, promoted through its own sites and through affiliate and private-label marketing partners.
Two of its top partners, Ryadd and SecureBoxOffice, bought paid search advertisements designed to be mistaken for the venue itself. When someone searched for “radio city music hall”, a Ryadd ad appeared near the top reading “Official Ticket Source Online for Radio City Music Hall Tickets in NY”, on the domain radiocity.musichall-ny.com. Clicking it led to a page titled “Radio City Music Hall”, with photos and text built to resemble the official site. It was a Ryadd resale page, often selling above face value.
SecureBoxOffice used the same approach with the words “box office”. A search for “Providence Performing Arts Center” produced an ad on pac.providenceboxoffice.com reading “Official ProvidenceBoxOffice Site”.
Neither site was owned by the venue, team, performer or promoter, nor authorized to sell on their behalf, and neither adequately disclosed that it was a resale marketplace where prices often exceeded face value.
What TicketNetwork itself was charged with
Not merely hosting the partners. The complaint alleges TicketNetwork helped create the deceptive portions of certain ads, provided legal cover through inadequate disclosures, and helped maintain the deception by defusing complaints and bad publicity, while knowingly profiting from it.
The orders
None of the defendants may represent that a resale site is a venue site or offers tickets at face value, and they may not use the word “official” in any ad, URL or website for resale tickets except in very narrow circumstances. They must affirmatively disclose that the site is a resale marketplace, that prices may exceed face value, and that the site is not owned by the venue.
TicketNetwork must require every partner to sign a written contract agreeing to the order, discipline partners who violate it, and handle complaints about venue confusion.
The three defendants pay $1.4 million to the State of Connecticut: $750,000 from TicketNetwork, $550,000 from Ryadd and $100,000 from SecureBoxOffice.
What is not established
Settlement orders resolve allegations without any admission or finding of wrongdoing.
Sources
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- Enforcement action July 24, 2014
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First recorded July 24, 2014 · Last updated July 24, 2014