Primary ticketing company Paciolan recently won a legal victory over rival Veritix in a patent infringement case where Veritix sought to protect its Flash Seats patent.
Veritix sued Paciolan in federal court in Delaware in 2007, before Paciolan was sold by Ticketmaster to Comcast-Spectacor as part of the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger, for allegedly infringing on its Flash Seats ticketing technology pertaining to the “method of electronically exchanging tickets for an event in a secondary market from ticket sellers to ticket buyers located at remote terminals.”
The court ruled late last week in Paciolan’s favor that the company did not infringe on Veritix’s patent.
At issue is the Flash Seats paperless ticketing system, which Veritix described as excluding “the step of delivering from the seller to the buyer a physical or tangible ticket.” Veritix believes that its patent for that process restricts Paciolan from delivering tickets in a similar manner, but a judge ruled that Paciolan’s system relies on both paperless and hard copy tickets, which the court did not believe infringed on Veritix’s patent.
A growing number ticketing companies are turning to paperless and mobile ticketing solutions for their clients, and Veritix has one of the better known systems because it boasts the Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets among its customers. Paciolan claims to have hundreds of customers, too, primarily among college athletic departments.
Veritix believes that the use of a credit card or driver’s license to gain entry to an event is part of its patent, but the court said that while Paciolan may also require ticket buyers to present similar forms of identification to gain entry, the fact that it also uses hard copy tickets sets it apart.
“Hence, the Court agrees with Defendant that because the claims of the ‘809 Patent do not cover systems that require either paper tickets or personal identification cards to gain access to an event, they do not cover Paciolan’s system,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark.
While not specifically saying the company would appeal the ruling, Veritix plans to continue defending its patent and may file future legal motions.
“We have reviewed the district court’s decision and respectfully disagree with the judge’s ruling,” Jeff Kline, president of Veritix, told TicketNews in a statement. “The majority of the claims in the patent remain valid and enforceable and we will continue to defend our position through appropriate legal channels.”
