1.This Act may be cited as the
Ticket
Act
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)Sponsors and
promoters of major music, sporting, and theatrical events are increasingly
seeking to control the resale of tickets to such events in the secondary
market, by employing restrictive State laws, imposing and enforcing onerous
contractual or license terms, and imposing technological barriers on ticket
resale.
(2)Such restrictions
and downstream controls substantially impede interstate commerce in event
tickets, drive up ticket prices, reduce availability of tickets to interested
purchasers, narrow the choices available to the public, and are unfair to
consumers.
(3)Eliminating such
restrictions and applying free market principles to the secondary market in
event tickets would encourage a robust competitive marketplace in such tickets,
would promote the healthy growth of electronic commerce in such tickets in
online marketplaces, and would be in the best interests of ticket purchasers,
fans, and the general public.
(4)Purchasers of
event tickets, whether in the primary or secondary ticket markets, are entitled
to minimum consumer protection standards, including provisions for full refunds
of ticket purchases in appropriate circumstances.
(5)In order to
achieve a nationwide free market in resale of event tickets, Congress must act
to preempt State or local laws that unjustifiably restrict such resales, while
preserving State and local authority to legislate or regulate to prevent fraud,
maintain public order, or vindicate other legitimate State and local
interests.
3.In this Act:
(1)The
term Commission means the Federal Trade Commission.
(2)The
term event means any concert, theatrical performance, sporting
event, exhibition, show, or similar scheduled activity, taking place in a venue
with a seating or attendance capacity exceeding 1,000 persons—
(A)that is open to
the general public;
(B)for which an
admission fee is charged; and
(C)that is promoted, advertised, or marketed
in interstate commerce or for which event tickets are generally sold in
interstate commerce.
(3)The term event ticket means any physical,
electronic, or other form of a certificate, document, voucher, token, or other
evidence indicating that the bearer, possessor, or person entitled to
possession through purchase or otherwise has—
(A)a revocable or
irrevocable right, privilege, or license to enter an event venue or occupy a
particular seat or area in an event venue with respect to one or more events;
or
(B)an entitlement to
purchase such a right, privilege, or license with respect to one or more future
events.
(4)The
term person means any natural person, partnership, corporation,
association, or other legal entity, including any person acting under color or
authority of State law.
(5)The
term resale includes any form of transfer, or offering to
transfer, of possession or entitlement to possession of an event ticket from
one person to another, with or without consideration, whether in person or by
means of telephone, mail, delivery service, facsimile, Internet, email, or
other electronic means. The term resale does not include the
initial sale of an event ticket by the ticket issuer.
(6)The
term State means any of the several States, the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession
of the United States.
(7)The term ticket issuer means any person that
first makes event tickets available, directly or indirectly, to the general
public, and may include—
(A)the operator of a
venue;
(B)the sponsor or
promoter of an event;
(C)a sports team
participating in an event or a league whose teams are participating in an
event;
(D)a theater company,
musical group or similar participant in an event; or
(E)an agent of any
such person.
(8)The
term venue means the theater, stadium, field, hall, or other
facility where an event takes place.
4.
(a)Except as otherwise
provided in this Act, it shall be unlawful for any ticket issuer to prohibit or
restrict the resale or offering for resale of an event ticket by a lawful
possessor thereof.
(b)Activities prohibited to ticket issuers by this Act
include—
(1)purporting to
impose license or contractual terms on the initial sale of event tickets
(including terms printed on the back of a physical ticket) that prohibit resale
of the ticket, or restrict the price or other terms and conditions under which
a ticket may be resold;
(2)requiring the
purchaser of a ticket, whether for a single event or for a series or season of
events, to agree not to resell the ticket, or to resell the ticket only through
a specific channel approved by the ticket issuer;
(3)bringing legal
action, based on an unlawful prohibition or restriction on resale of an event
ticket, against—
(A)a purchaser who
resells or offers to resell an event ticket without permission of the ticket
issuer, or in violation of a restriction purportedly imposed by the ticket
issuer;
(B)persons who
facilitate or provide services for the resale of event tickets without such
permission or in alleged violation of such a restriction; or
(C)the operator of a
physical or electronic marketplace in which a ticket is offered for resale
without such permission or in alleged violation of such a restriction;
(4)imposing any
penalty on a ticket purchaser who resells or offers to resell an event ticket
without permission or in violation of a restriction purportedly imposed by the
ticket issuer, or treating such a purchaser in any material way less favorably
than a similarly situated purchaser who does not resell or offer to resell an
event ticket, or who complies with resale restrictions purportedly imposed by
the ticket issuer;
(5)employing
technological means, including any means of promoting, carrying out,
documenting or verifying sales of event tickets, or of controlling entry to
venues by lawful possessors of event tickets, that have the effect of
prohibiting or restricting the ability of purchasers to resell such tickets; or
(6)seeking to limit
or restrict the price, or to impose a minimum or maximum price, at which an
event ticket may be resold.
5.Consumer
Protection Minimum Standards
(a)It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in the
primary or resale market for event ticket sales in any manner specified in
subsection (b) without complying with the consumer protection minimum standards
specified in this section with regard to event ticket sales.
(b)This section applies to all persons engaged
in the trade or business of—
(1)acting as a ticket issuer;
(2)engaging in the resale of event tickets,
except in the case of an individual engaged in resales of no more than 25
tickets in any one year; or
(3)providing a physical or electronic
marketplace for the sale or resale of event tickets by other persons.
(c)A person subject to this section may comply
with its provisions by conducting its sales or resales of event tickets in a
physical or electronic marketplace that provides the consumer protection
minimum standards specified in this section.
(d)All persons
subject to this section shall—
(1)maintain a
toll-free telephone number for complaints and inquiries regarding its
activities in the sale or resale of event tickets; and
(2)implement and
reasonably publicize a standard refund policy that meets the minimum standards
stated in subsection (d).
(e)Requirements of
refund policyThe standard refund policy described in subsection
(c)—
(1)shall provide a
consumer who purchases an event ticket from the person a full refund if—
(A)the event is
canceled before the scheduled occurrence of the event, and is not
rescheduled;
(B)the event ticket
sold by the person and received by the purchaser is counterfeit;
(C)the event ticket
has been canceled by the ticket issuer for nonpayment by the original
purchaser, or for any reason other than an act or omission of the
consumer;
(D)the event ticket
materially and to the detriment of the consumer fails to conform to the
description provided by the seller; or
(E)the event ticket
was not delivered to the consumer prior to the occurrence of the event, unless
such failure of delivery was due to any act or omission of the consumer;
(2)shall include in a
full refund the full price paid by the consumer for the event ticket, together
with any fees charged in connection with that purchase, including convenience
fees, processing fees, at-home printing charges, shipping and handling charges,
or delivery fees; and
(3)may condition
entitlement to a refund upon timely return of the ticket purchased, and may
include reasonable safeguards against abuse of the policy.
(f)Requirements as
minimum requirementsNothing in this section shall be construed
to prohibit any person subject to this section from implementing consumer
protection policies that exceed the minimum standard set forth in this section,
and that are otherwise compliant with this Act.
6.
(a)Unfair and
deceptive act or practiceAny violation of section 4 or 5 shall
be treated as a violation of a rule under section 18 of the Federal Trade
Commission Act regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
(b)Enforcement by
the Federal Trade CommissionThe Commission shall enforce this
Act in the same manner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction,
powers and duties, as though all applicable provisions of the Federal Trade
Commission Act were incorporated into and made a part of this Act.
(c)
(1)In any case in which
the attorney general of a State, or an agency of a State responsible for
consumer protection, has reason to believe that an interest of the residents of
that State has been or is adversely affected by any person who violates section
4 or 5 of this Act, the attorney general or the State agency, as parens
patriae, may bring a civil action on behalf of the residents of the State in a
district court of the United States of appropriate jurisdiction—
(A)to enjoin further violation of section 4 or
5 by the defendant; or
(B)to obtain damages
on behalf of residents of the State, in an amount equal to the greater
of—
(i)the
actual monetary loss suffered by such residents; or
(ii)the
amount determined under paragraph (2).
(2)
(A)For purposes of paragraph (1)(B)(ii), the amount
determined under this paragraph is the amount calculated by multiplying the
number of violations by up to $100, with each ticket subject to an unlawful
prohibition or restriction, or sold or offered to be sold in violation of
section 5, counted as a separate violation.
(B)For
any violation of section 4 or 5 with respect to any one event, the amount
determined under subparagraph (A) may not exceed $1,000,000.
(3)In the case of any successful action under paragraph (1),
the court, in its discretion, may award the costs of the action and reasonable
attorney fees to the State.
(4)Rights of
Federal regulatorsThe State shall serve prior written notice of
any action under paragraph (1) upon the Federal Trade Commission and provide
the Commission with a copy of its complaint, except in any case in which such
prior notice is not feasible, in which case the State shall serve such notice
immediately upon instituting such action. The Federal Trade Commission shall
have the right—
(A)to intervene in
the action;
(B)upon so
intervening, to be heard on all matters arising therein;
(C)to remove the
action to the appropriate United States district court; and
(D)to file petitions
for appeal.
(5)For
purposes of bringing any civil action under paragraph (1), nothing in this Act
shall be construed to prevent an attorney general of a State from exercising
the powers conferred on the attorney general by the laws of that State
to—
(A)conduct
investigations;
(B)administer oaths
or affirmations; or
(C)compel the
attendance of witnesses or the production of documentary and other
evidence.
(6)Venue; service
of process
(A)Any
action brought under paragraph (1) may be brought in the district court of the
United States that meets applicable requirements relating to venue under
section 1391 of title 28, United States Code.
(B)In an action brought under paragraph (1), process may be
served in any district in which the defendant—
(i)is
an inhabitant; or
(ii)maintains a
physical place of business.
(7)Limitation on
State action while Federal action is pendingIf the Commission
has instituted a civil action or an administrative action for violation of this
Act, no State attorney general, or official or agency of a State, may bring an
action under this subsection during the pendency of that action against any
defendant named in the complaint of the Commission for any violation of this
Act alleged in the complaint.
7.
(a)Except as otherwise provided in this section, this Act
preempts and supersedes any inconsistent statute, regulation, or rule of a
State or political subdivision of a State that purports to permit any action
prohibited by this Act, but only to the extent of such inconsistency.
(b)Preemption of
Antiscalping LawsThis Act preempts and supersedes any statute,
regulation, or rule of a State or political subdivision of a State that limits
the price at which an event ticket may be resold.
(c)Nothing
in this Act shall be construed to preempt the applicability of the law of a
State or political subdivision of a State that—
(1)regulates or
prohibits the sale or resale of event tickets—
(A)based on proximity
of the location of sale to the location of a venue; or
(B)in a manner that
constitutes disorderly conduct or breach of the peace;
(2)empowers the
operator of a venue or its agent to deny admission to any person, or to eject
any person from an event, in order to preserve public safety or order, or to
prevent or restrict the admission of minors;
(3)prohibits fraud,
deception, or similar practices in connection with the sale or resale of
tickets, or prohibits the sale or resale of counterfeit tickets;
(4)treats a ticket as
a license for any purpose other than the prohibition or restriction of
resale;
(5)regulates the
initial sale of event tickets by limiting the number of tickets that may be
purchased from a ticket issuer by a single person; or
(6)prohibits the
intentional circumvention of technological means employed by ticket issuers to
enforce limitations on the number of tickets that may be purchased by a single
person, or the sale or distribution of devices, computer programs, or other
tools for the purpose of such circumvention.
8.Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted to
invalidate restrictions on the resale of tickets imposed by—
(1)sponsors or promoters of events intended
solely to benefit charitable endeavors, for which all tickets are distributed
free of charge;
(2)not-for-profit educational institutions,
with respect to athletic events involving athletes or teams of such
institutions, to the extent that such restrictions apply to tickets initially
distributed by the institution to—
(A)students, faculty,
staff members, or alumni without charge; or
(B)members of bona
fide booster organizations consisting of those making substantial financial
contributions to the institution.
9.This Act shall take
effect 1 year after the date of enactment, and shall apply to tickets for all
events which occur on or after the effective date.