Photo Credit: The Stone Church
Independent Vermont venue The Stone Church has sued StubHub for trademark infringement, false advertising, and deceptive marketing practices under the Lanham Act.
In a classic David vs. Goliath battle with the potential for major implications, indie Vermont venue The Stone Church has filed a lawsuit against ticket resale platform StubHub, alleging trademark infringement, false advertising, and deceptive marketing practices under the Lanham Act. The venue is seeking more than $5 million in damages plus requirements to disclose all-in pricing and prevent further inventory hoodwinks.
However, rather than a typical antitrust lawsuit, The Stone Church’s case focuses on trademark and consumer protection laws to battle a laundry list of allegations. These include false scarcity warnings (such as claiming only a small percentage of stock remains), deceptive “lowest price” badges on marked-up tickets, and facilitating speculative selling by brokers who do not yet own the tickets they list.
To aid in its strategy, the filing focuses on trademark infringement specifically under the Lanham Act, which governs trademarks, service marks, and unfair competition, as well as prohibiting false advertising.
The Stone Church asserts that StubHub’s practices are not unique to the platform and outlines several specific secondary ticketing practices. StubHub allegedly deploys warnings that spark a sense of urgency, such as claiming “only 4% of tickets left!” on events where a vast majority of the primary box office inventory is still available. The complaint also highlights listings with badges that claim “Lowest price!” despite being marked up significantly above face value while original—and cheaper—tickets remain unsold at the venue’s box office.
The venue also accuses brokers of listing non-existent inventory on StubHub in a practice known as speculative (“spec”) selling. In one documented test purchase cited in court documents, a broker allegedly waited 49 hours after collecting a fan’s money on StubHub to actually purchase the ticket from the Stone Church box office.
The Stone Church is advocating for systematic operational transparency and seeking a federal injunction requiring StubHub to display all-in pricing upfront, clearly disclose that its listings do not reflect total remaining inventory across the venue, and notify consumers when primary box office tickets are still available for cheaper.
It’s a challenge that could force changes in how ticket availability is marketed and has the potential to disrupt the secondary ticketing industry in a very tangible way.
