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ARTICLE · 31 JANUARY 2018

Competition Bureau Files Application Alleging Misleading Ticket Pricing

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
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On January 25, 2018, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) filed an application with the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) against Ticketmaster, its parent company Live Nation, and certain other Live Nation subsidiaries...

CanadaAntitrust/Competition Law
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
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On January 25, 2018, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) filed an application with the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) against Ticketmaster, its parent company Live Nation, and certain other Live Nation subsidiaries (collectively, Ticketmaster), for allegedly making deceptive marketing claims to consumers when advertising ticket prices for sports and entertainment events.

The application's key issue is that Ticketmaster charges consumers non-optional fees, which are not disclosed at the beginning of the purchasing process. The Bureau investigation found that the addition of one or more of these unexpected fees often increases the price of tickets by over 20 per cent, and in some cases, by over 65 per cent of the advertised price.

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