An executive at online ticket seller Ticketmaster has been accused of hacking computers and appropriating trade secrets by a rival.
On February 16, Songkick filed an amended complaint at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.
Songkick is a platform that allows artists to sell tickets directly to fans before they go on general sale. It merged with CrowdSurge in June 2015.
Songkick claimed that a former CrowdSurge executive accessed CrowdSurge’s protected computers and improperly acquired and used CrowdSurge’s trade secrets and confidential information.
The accused senior vice president, Stephen Mead, left CrowdSurge with “more than 85,000 CrowdSurge documents” and joined a Ticketmaster-owned company called TicketWeb, the claim said.
But, according to the claim, it didn’t end there: Mead provided the confidential information to his colleagues at the new company and provided them with unlawful access to CrowdSurge’s computers.
“This was part of Mead’s personal vendetta (and Ticketmaster’s collective desire) to ‘cut [CrowdSurge] off at the knees’, ‘bring down the hammer’ on CrowdSurge, and ultimately copy and thereby defeat CrowdSurge,” alleged the claim.
It also claimed that Mead had sent his new colleagues URLs to webpages of ticketing “stores” that CrowdSurge had customised for specific artist clients and potential artist clients.
In December 2015, Songkick filed its original complaint against Ticketmaster, alleging anti-competitive conduct and antitrust violations. Songkick claimed that Ticketmaster’s merger with concert promotion company Live Nation “not only removed Live Nation as a threat to Ticketmaster’s monopoly power, but enhanced that dominance”.
Full Content: Music Week
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Biden Administration Supports Antitrust Suit Against FIFA
Mar 18, 2024 by
CPI
Apple in Talks to Incorporate Google’s Gemini AI Amid Antitrust Scrutiny
Mar 18, 2024 by
CPI
Appeals Court Revives Regeneron’s Antitrust Lawsuit Against Novartis Over Vision Treatment
Mar 18, 2024 by
CPI
Apple Responds to Criticism Over EU’s Digital Markets Act Compliance
Mar 18, 2024 by
CPI
Turkey Imposes Interim Measures on Meta Platforms
Mar 18, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Pricing Algorithms
Feb 28, 2024 by
CPI
Pricing Algorithms and Antitrust Enforcement: Sandboxes to the Rescue?
Feb 28, 2024 by
CPI
AI, Algorithmic Pricing, and Collusion
Feb 28, 2024 by
CPI
Competition & Collusion in a World of Algorithmic Pricing: Antitrust Risks & Enforcement Trends
Feb 28, 2024 by
CPI
Pricing Algorithms in Antitrust’s Sights?
Feb 28, 2024 by
CPI