Scalped Tickets Can Be Seized,|Vancouver Olympic Committee Says

VANCOUVER, B.C. (CN) - "Let the games begin!" but without ticket scalping, please, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics says. The committee is cracking down on scalpers who claim to have "guaranteed" tickets to events despite a license agreement that specifically prohibits ticket scalping.

The committee claims that Shane Bourdage and his company Coast2Coast Tickets are illegally using Olympic trademarks to falsely advertise tickets to Olympic events at fees that "grossly exceed the face value of the tickets."

Scalped or resold tickets can be confiscated and invalidated, Olympic organizers say.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee - VANOC - claims that Bourdage is selling ducats through the Internet, and is not warning people about the "real and substantial risk that Bourdage and Coast2Coast will not be able to deliver tickets to their customers, and that any such tickets presented by their customers at 2010 Winter Games events will be cancelled, invalidated and seized by VANOC."

The only ticket resellers authorized to sell to Canadians are Jet Set Sports and Tickets.com, the complaint states. The committee says Bourdage has failed to stop advertising the tickets despite demands to stop.

The stringent anti-scalping rules are "intended to ensure the fair, worldwide distribution of tickets at reasonable cost," according to the complaint.

VANOC is represented in B.C. Supreme Court by Bradley J. Freedman with Borden Ladner Gervais.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit