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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Bogus Olympics Tickets Are Being Sold|On Internet, Olympics Committees Say

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Operators of the Website beijingticketing.com are selling counterfeit tickets to the Summer Olympics and using Olympic trademarks to make the site seem genuine, the American and International Olympic Committees claim in Federal Court.

The Web site, purportedly operated by XLH and X.L.&H LTD, displays the Beijing 2008 mark on its home page along with many other registered Olympic marks.

Six secondary sites advertise tickets and link up to the main site, according to the IOC, which alleges trademark infringement, false advertising, and other causes of action.

Ticket prices range from $100 for early individual competitions to as much as $2,150 for entrance to the opening ceremonies.

The Olympic committees claim that the vast majority of tickets offered for sale on the sites do not exist.

Several customers became suspicious when the Web site operators did not ask for their pictures, passport details or other information they need to conform to security measures at the games.

According to the lawsuit, when one customer complained, a defendant employee said, "Instead of asking questions and going around the houses and spending silly amounts of time in emailing us and trying to catch out after booking, why don't you just ask for your money back and for us to cancel your order instead of trying to make yourself a private detective and wasting your time and ours." The operators ignored the customer's subsequent requests to cancel his order.

The Olympic Committees want the Web site operators ordered to stop using their trademarks, the domain name impounded and all profits from it. They are represented by Dale Cendall with O'Melveny & Myers.

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