Ticketmaster this week won a ruling in its case against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and its partner Flash Seats, prohibiting the Cavs from using Flash Seats technology to resell tickets.

U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen O'Malley ruled that the team's use of the Flash Seats paperless ticketing system violated a prior exclusive ticketing agreement between Ticketmaster and the Cavs. The team was promoting the use of Flash Seats as an option to season ticket holders who want to resell their tickets.

The Cavs are now prohibited from using Flash Seats selling or reselling tickets "of any kind." As of today, October 1, a link to Flash Seats is still located in a pull-down menu under "Tickets" on the Cavs Web site.

In a separate case filed in the summer of 2007, Flash Seats and the Cavs sued Ticketmaster on anti-trust grounds for its alleged near monopoly on primary tickets. That case, also before O'Malley, is still pending.

In the past while acknowledging Ticketmaster's exclusive contract to sell game tickets in the primary market, Cavs officials believe that exclusivity does not apply to the secondary resale market. One of Flash Seats principal investors is Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.