Case could have ticket reseller facing the music

Sue Moscariello thought she had every angle covered.

The Winchendon resident was poised last month with her phone and computer as tickets for the two December Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concerts at the DCU Center in Worcester went on sale. She couldn't get through to Ticketmaster by phone but she connected online, only to be blocked before being able to purchase tickets for her twin 13-year-old nieces.

"It was like I hit a big cement wall," she said. "It has got to be because there are hacker people for these ticket agencies that know how to block people out."

It's unclear what happened with Moscariello's ticket purchase, but her hunch about hackers going to the front of the virtual ticket line might be right on the money. Ticket resellers once hired teenagers to stand in line to buy tickets for big events, but now they use sophisticated software that allows them to snare seats ahead of the general public - and oftentimes, in the process, block out other customers.

A federal judge in Los Angeles last week granted Ticketmaster a preliminary injunction barring RMG Technologies Inc. from marketing a software product that allows ticket resellers to barrage Ticketmaster's website with requests. RMG, which is based in Pittsburgh and has 10 employees, calls its software "stealth technology that lets you hide your IP address, so you never get blocked by Ticketmaster."

Court papers indicate RMG was a ticket scalper's dream come true. On one day in July, Ticketmaster court filings indicate RMG clients attempted to reserve a seat through Ticketmaster every 10 seconds. Ticketmaster says RMG clients successfully reserved seats 8,661 times on that day.

For a Beastie Boys concert, Ticketmaster said RMG clients bought 5 percent of all the tickets. For a show by comedian Kathy Griffin, Ticketmaster says RMG clients purchased 13 percent of all of the floor seats and 40 percent of the best floor seats. Ticketmaster declined to say where and when the Beastie Boys and Griffin shows were held.

One of RMG's clients is Massachusetts resident Thomas J. Prior, who, according to a lawsuit filed by Ticketmaster, used the software to buy 45,000 tickets since early 2003.

Court documents indicate Prior bought tickets using several different addresses, credit cards, and names, including those of his ex-wife and children. Over a three-day period in August, court records filed by Ticketmaster indicate Prior placed 91 ticket orders for two concerts - Rascal Flatts and the Vans Warped Tour. It is unclear which concerts Prior selected or what he did with the tickets he bought.

Prior is not licensed to resell tickets in Massachusetts. His lawyer did not return phone calls. RMG's lawyer also did not return phone calls.

Ticketmaster, which has taken heat for quick ticket sellouts and been criticized for its many surcharges and fees, has pointed to the RMG lawsuit as evidence that it is trying to do the right thing by consumers.

In court papers and public statements, the company has said it is doing everything possible to make sure resellers don't illegally divert tickets away from fans. Company officials say it's an expensive, uphill struggle.

"We know as a market leader and a technological leader folks are targeting us," said Joseph M. Freeman, vice president and assistant general counsel at Ticketmaster. "We strongly suspect RMG is not the only one."

In her decision, Los Angeles US District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins said that RMG's actions harmed not only Ticketmaster but the public at large.

"Insofar as defendant's misconduct allows its ticket broker clients to unfairly purchase numerous tickets for resale resulting in immediately sold-out events, ordinary consumers must either forgo the event or pay ticket brokers inflated prices for resold tickets," Collins said.

Moscariello refused to pay the higher markup for the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concerts. Ticketmaster was selling tickets for seats on the floor of the DCU Center for $64.75. The same tickets on StubHub are selling for $600 and above.

StubHub spokesman Sean Pate said no one individual should gain a special advantage in purchasing tickets, but he said Ticketmaster's legal battle with RMG is unlikely to affect the supply-demand imbalance for some types of tickets. He noted the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concerts would have sold out quickly even if RMG hadn't been operating because the artist is so popular with fans of her Disney Channel TV show.

The state Legislature is debating what to do with the state's 83-year-old antiscalping law, which bars anyone in the business of reselling tickets from charging more than $2 above face value plus certain service and business charges. The law is rarely enforced.

The House earlier this month passed a bill doing away with the price cap. Just before passage, several provisions in the original draft were deleted. One would have required websites such as StubHub and eBay, which bring ticket buyers and sellers together, to obtain a Massachusetts reseller's license and be subject to the law's consumer protections.

The other provision would have made it a crime to purchase more tickets than the limit set by the concert or event promoter. Ticketmaster had pushed for this provision, saying it would help crack down on people trying to acquire large numbers of tickets for resale.

Representative Michael J. Rodrigues, a Westport Democrat who drafted the ticket legislation, said the language was rejected by House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and the House legal counsel because they believed the concert or event promoters should enforce their own ticket limits.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.