IIB 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5104 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation 
AN ACT 
To prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice in 
commerce, the sale or use of certain software to cir-
cumvent control measures used by Internet ticket sellers 
to ensure equitable consumer access to tickets for any 
given event, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better On-line Ticket 
Sales Act of 2016’’ or the ‘‘BOTS Act’’. 
SEC. 2. UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES RE-
LATING TO USE OF TICKET ACCESS CIR-
CUMVENTION SOFTWARE. 
(a) SALE OF SOFTWARE.—It shall be unlawful for 
any person to sell or offer to sell, in commerce, any com-
puter software, or part thereof, that— 
(1) is primarily designed or produced for the 
purpose of circumventing a technological measure 
that limits purchases made via a computerized event 
ticketing system; 
(2) has only limited commercially significant 
purpose or use other than to circumvent a techno-
logical measure that limits purchases made via a 
computerized event ticketing system; or 
(3) is marketed by that person for use in cir-
cumventing a technological measure that limits pur-
chases made via a computerized event ticketing sys-
tem. 
(b) USE OF SOFTWARE.—It shall be unlawful for any 
person to use any computer software, or part thereof, de-
scribed in subsection (a) of this section, to purchase an 
event ticket via a computerized event ticketing system in 
violation of the system operator’s posted limits on the se-
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quence or number of transactions, frequency of trans-
actions, or quantity of tickets purchased by a single user 
of the system, or on the geographic location of any trans-
actions. 
(c) RESALE OF TICKETS.—It shall be unlawful for 
any person to engage in the practice of reselling in com-
merce, event tickets acquired in violation of subsection (b) 
of this section if the person either— 
(1) participated directly in or had the ability to 
control the conduct in violation of subsection (b); or 
(2) knew or should have known that the event 
tickets were acquired in violation of subsection (b). 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘computerized event ticketing sys-
tem’’ means a system of selling event tickets, in 
commerce, via an online interactive computer system 
that effectively limits the sequence or number of 
ticket purchase transactions, frequency of ticket pur-
chase transactions, quantity of tickets purchased, or 
geographic location of any ticket purchase trans-
actions; 
(2) the term ‘‘event ticket’’ means a ticket enti-
tling one or more individuals to attend, in person, 
one or more events to occur on specific dates, times, 
and geographic locations; and 
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(3) to ‘‘circumvent a technological measure’’ 
means to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or im-
pair a technological measure, without the authority 
of the computerized event ticketing system operator. 
(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Notwithstanding the 
prohibitions set forth in subsections (a) and (b), it shall 
not be unlawful under this section to create or use any 
computer software, or part thereof, to— 
(1) investigate or further the enforcement or 
defense of any alleged violation of this section; or 
(2) engage in research necessary to identify and 
analyze flaws and vulnerabilities of a computerized 
event ticketing system, if these research activities 
are conducted to advance the state of knowledge in 
the field of computer system security or to assist in 
the development of computer security products. 
(f) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM-
MISSION.—A violation of subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall 
be treated as an unfair and deceptive act or practice in 
violation of a regulation issued under section 18(a)(1)(B) 
of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 
57a(a)(1)(B)). 
(g) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 
(1) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to paragraph 
(2), in any case in which the attorney general of a 
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