US: Judge dismisses StubHub’s antitrust suit against Ticketmaster

A judge dismissed StubHub’s antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

US District Judge Maxine M. Chesney concluded that StubHub’s argument that the Warriors and Ticketmaster conspired to fix the resale marketplace were unfounded.

Ticketmaster had signed an exclusive resale partnership with the NBA team in 2012, a move that rocked StubHub’s ticket sales for the team.

“The native monopoly every manufacturer has in the production and sale of its own product cannot be the basis for antitrust liability,” Chesney wrote. The judge also threw out StubHub’s allegation that the Warriors were the only product available because they are the only professional team in the Bay Area.

StubHub has until the end of the month to file an amended complaint.

“StubHub will decide in the coming days what next steps it will take to protect competition and provide fans of the Warriors with the opportunity to use the secondary ticket exchange of their choice,” StubHub spokesman Glenn Lehrman said in a statement.

Full content: NBA

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