The regional court of Hanover has ordered German secondary ticketing site Ticketbande to restrict the resale of tickets on its site.
Under these restrictions, there are two scenarios in which Ticketbande may not list tickets. Firstly, if a seller marks up a ticket to 25% above face value when the terms of the original ticket contain a specific clause agreed with the courts that forbid this.
Secondly, when tickets have a box for the buyer’s name. This means that they are named tickets and non-transferable (providing there is a way for that named person to get a refund if they cannot attend a show).
The court order against Ticketbande was sought by the German promoter’s association BDKV. Dr Johannes Ulbricht of law firm Michow & Ulbricht, who represents BDKV, said:
“This verdict finally eliminates a crucial grey area in ticket sales [and brings event organisers] a great step further in the fight against the commercial secondary market ticketing trade”.
FEAT’s director, Sam Shemtob, commented:
“This illustrates the traction that a variety of national movements, such as BDKV’s [anti-touting campaign] are getting across Europe, and shows that local judiciaries are not falling for spurious arguments in support of industrial level touting”.
For further information, see the CMU report.