StubHub suffers an initial legislative defeat in its fight against paperless tickets
A California legislative committee has rejected an outright ban on paperless tickets that require the purchaser to arrive at the concert venue with a credit card and ID.
The Tuesday vote to allow paperless tickets was considered a blow to online ticket reseller StubHub, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The revised bill passed by the committee simply provides penalties for use of software to obtain blocks of tickets before individuals can obtain them.
New York passed a ban on nontransferable paperless tickets in 2010. So far, it is the only state with such a law on the books, though legislation in New Jersey is “making headway,” the story says.
StubHub contends fans own the rights to their tickets, and they should be able to sell them. “It [was] really a property rights bill,” StubHub spokesman Glenn Lehrman told the Wall Street Journal.
A spokeswoman for concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc., Jacqueline Peterson, had another view. The committee vote is “a great victory for California fans,” she told the newspaper.
