Patent ID: 8131572

Claim:
A method for providing access to an event after a paperless ticket exchange, the method comprising: (a) in a ticketing system: tracking a life cycle of an electronic ticket, the life cycle including any combination of: electronic ticket setup, sale of the electronic ticket to a ticket owner but not used by the ticket owner, resale of the electronic ticket by the ticket owner to a subsequent ticket buyer, and trade of the electronic ticket by subsequent ticket buyers, each of the ticket owner and each subsequent ticket buyer being a respective ticket holder; transferring ownership of the electronic ticket from one ticket holder to a subsequent ticket holder; said transferring including allowing multiple changes in ownership of the electronic ticket as traded throughout the life cycle of the electronic ticket from setup through multiple transfers in ownership; creating and electronically storing in the ticketing system an ownership record for the electronic ticket, the ownership record including ownership information identifying and authenticating a current ticket holder, the ownership record associating new respective ownership information each time ownership of the electronic ticket is transferred, and the ownership record indicating the tracked life cycle of the electronic ticket from ticket setup through multiple transfers of ownership of the electronic ticket, wherein ticket setup is before the sale of the electronic ticket to the ticket owner, and wherein the ownership information is a credit card number, as provided by a respective ticket holder to the ticketing system, the credit card number alone identifying and authenticating the respective ticket holder as the current ticket holder; and (b) authorizing access to the event by (i) receiving, at a venue access point of the ticketing system, an instance of the ownership information identifying and authenticating the current ticket holder, the received instance being the credit card number as provided by the current ticket holder and thus free of use of a number specific to the ticketing system and by (ii) successfully comparing the received instance of the ownership information to the ownership information stored in the ownership record, the comparing being of the credit card number as provided by the current ticket holder and thus free of use of a number specific to the ticketing system.