I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4795 
To prohibit restrictions on the resale of event tickets sold in interstate 
commerce as an unfair or deceptive act or practice. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 9, 2010 
Mr. MATHESON (for himself and Mr. TERRY) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To prohibit restrictions on the resale of event tickets sold 
in interstate commerce as an unfair or deceptive act 
or practice. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ticket Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Sponsors and promoters of major music, 
sporting, and theatrical events are increasingly seek-
ing to control the resale of tickets to such events in 
the secondary market, by employing restrictive State 
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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 tick-
ets 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 ap-
propriate circumstances. 
(5) In order to achieve a nationwide free mar-
ket in resale of event tickets, Congress must act to 
preempt State or local laws that unjustifiably re-
strict such resales, while preserving State and local 
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authority to legislate or regulate to prevent fraud, 
maintain public order, or vindicate other legitimate 
State and local interests. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Trade Commission. 
(2) EVENT.—The term ‘‘event’’ means any con-
cert, theatrical performance, sporting event, exhi-
bition, show, or similar scheduled activity, taking 
place in a venue with a seating or attendance capac-
ity 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 mar-
keted in interstate commerce or for which event 
tickets are generally sold in interstate com-
merce. 
(3) EVENT TICKET.—The term ‘‘event ticket’’ 
means any physical, electronic, or other form of a 
certificate, document, voucher, token, or other evi-
dence indicating that the bearer, possessor, or per-
son entitled to possession through purchase or other-
wise has— 
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(A) a revocable or irrevocable right, privi-
lege, or license to enter an event venue or oc-
cupy 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) PERSON.—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) RESALE.—The term ‘‘resale’’ includes any 
form of transfer, or offering to transfer, of posses-
sion or entitlement to possession of an event ticket 
from one person to another, with or without consid-
eration, 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 tick-
et issuer. 
(6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other terri-
tory or possession of the United States. 
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(7) TICKET ISSUER.—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) VENUE.—The term ‘‘venue’’ means the the-
ater, stadium, field, hall, or other facility where an 
event takes place. 
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION. 
(a) UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided 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 DESCRIBED.—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 
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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 tick-
et 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 re-
sell an event ticket without permission of the 
ticket issuer, or in violation of a restriction pur-
portedly imposed by the ticket issuer; 
(B) persons who facilitate or provide serv-
ices for the resale of event tickets without such 
permission or in alleged violation of such a re-
striction; or 
(C) the operator of a physical or electronic 
marketplace in which a ticket is offered for re-
sale without such permission or in alleged viola-
tion of such a restriction; 
(4) imposing any penalty on a ticket purchaser 
who resells or offers to resell an event ticket without 
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permission or in violation of a restriction purport-
edly 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. 
SEC. 5. CONSUMER PROTECTION MINIMUM STANDARDS. 
(a) UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.—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 min-
imum standards specified in this section with regard to 
event ticket sales. 
(b) APPLICATION.—This section applies to all per-
sons engaged in the trade or business of— 
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(1) acting as a ticket issuer; 
(2) engaging in the resale of event tickets, ex-
cept 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 market-
place for the sale or resale of event tickets by other 
persons. 
(c) COMPLIANCE.—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 market-
place that provides the consumer protection minimum 
standards specified in this section. 
(d) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—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 stand-
ard refund policy that meets the minimum standards 
stated in subsection (d). 
(e) REQUIREMENTS
OF
REFUND
POLICY.—The 
standard refund policy described in subsection (c)— 
(1) shall provide a consumer who purchases an 
event ticket from the person a full refund if— 
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clude reasonable safeguards against abuse of the 
policy. 
(f) REQUIREMENTS AS MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.— 
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any 
person subject to this section from implementing con-
sumer protection policies that exceed the minimum stand-
ard set forth in this section, and that are otherwise compli-
ant with this Act. 
SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACT OR PRACTICE.— 
Any violation of section 4 or 5 shall be treated as a viola-
tion of a rule under section 18 of the Federal Trade Com-
mission Act regarding unfair or deceptive acts or prac-
tices. 
(b) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM-
MISSION.—The Commission shall enforce this Act in the 
same manner, by the same means, and with the same ju-
risdiction, powers and duties, as though all applicable pro-
visions of the Federal Trade Commission Act were incor-
porated into and made a part of this Act. 
(c) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 
(1) CIVIL ACTION.—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 
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has been or is adversely affected by any person who 
violates section 4 or 5 of this Act, the attorney gen-
eral 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 ap-
propriate jurisdiction— 
(A) to enjoin further violation of section 4 
or 5 by the defendant; or 
(B) to obtain damages on behalf of resi-
dents 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) STATUTORY DAMAGES.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para-
graph (1)(B)(ii), the amount determined under 
this paragraph is the amount calculated by mul-
tiplying the number of violations by up to $100, 
with each ticket subject to an unlawful prohibi-
tion or restriction, or sold or offered to be sold 
in violation of section 5, counted as a separate 
violation. 
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(B) LIMITATION.—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) ATTORNEY FEES.—In the case of any suc-
cessful 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 REGULATORS.—The 
State shall serve prior written notice of any action 
under paragraph (1) upon the Federal Trade Com-
mission 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) CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of bringing 
any civil action under paragraph (1), nothing in this 
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Act shall be construed to prevent an attorney gen-
eral 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 evi-
dence. 
(6) VENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.— 
(A) VENUE.—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) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—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 busi-
ness. 
(7) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED-
ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commission has 
instituted a civil action or an administrative action 
for violation of this Act, no State attorney general, 
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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 com-
plaint of the Commission for any violation of this 
Act alleged in the complaint. 
SEC. 7. EFFECT ON STATE LAW. 
(a) PREEMPTION IN GENERAL.—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 LAWS.—This 
Act preempts and supersedes any statute, regulation, or 
rule of a State or political subdivision of a State that lim-
its the price at which an event ticket may be resold. 
(c) SAVINGS.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
to preempt the applicability of the law of a State or polit-
ical 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; 
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