In the case Viagogo, one of the biggest so-called secondary ticket brokers, were forced to hand over to the Rugby Football Union (RFU) the names and addresses of people who sold on tickets to England rugby matches via its website.
The case sees promoters able to enforce the terms and conditions for concert, sporting, or festivals events that say that the ticket cannot be resold. For example, the small print on the See Tickets website states: "By ordering, you agree that the tickets are for the personal use of you and your party only, and will not be resold or transferred. Any resale or attempt to resell the tickets at a price higher than purchased will result in your orders being cancelled without prior notification."
Until now, such conditions have rarely been enforced which has led to an explosion in the numbers of people buying and selling concert and sporting event tickets via secondary ticket selling sites.
However the new ruling means that people who sell tickets for profit on resale websites such as major secondary ticketing scumbag tout websites Viagogo and Seatwave could face court action to force them to hand over the profit and be "named and shamed".
Law firm Hogan Lovells told the newspaper that the decision "means individuals who believe they have online anonymity can be identified."
Whilst the ruling applied to a rugby match it has huge implications for the UK's secondary ticketing market and for touting scum who sell tickets on these sites. It means event promoters and other sporting bodies can now adopt the RFU's stance backed by the supreme court ruling.
The RFU said: "Today's dismissal of Viagogo's final appeal sets an important precedent for the sporting industry that rights holders should retain the ability to control their ticketing policy and pricing. If a seller is found to be listing these tickets on secondary websites they face tough sanctions, including possible court action."
Its chief commercial officer, Sophie Goldschmidt, told the newspaper "Selling tickets through secondary ticketing sites is against our terms and conditions and allows prices to be inflated, preventing many of our supporters from purchasing. We now plan to identify such sellers and take tough sanctions to keep our tickets off secondary ticket sites and in the right hands."
It is not known how many Viagogo customers are affected by the ruling, but the in terms of tickets listed at outlandish prices it will be in the thousands. Whilst promoters are only able to take action retrospectively, the case could see steps taken to identify those selling tickets to forthcoming events.
Of course, enforcing the ruling depends entirely on whether the promoter is actually bothered about their tickets being re-sold for grossly inflated prices.
Ticket touting means real fans are deprived of the opportunity to attend events and see artists they love while speculators cash in.
eFestivals believes there are strong arguments for more legislation to curb the activities of unofficial ticket-sellers.
In February this year, Dispatches on Channel 4 aired a programme subtitled "The Great Ticket Scandal" exposing the secondary festival or gig ticket market. eFestivals did a news story about the programme (here).
One of the major secondary ticketing scumbag tout websites - Viagogo - attempted to get an injunction to stop the programme being broadcast. The programme alleged that promoters have directly supplied tens of thousands of tickets to secondary outlet online scumbag touts, leading to fewer tickets available at face value for genuine buyers, bigger profits for these promoters, and people having to pay wildly inflated prices if they want to attend these shows.
eFestivals has always been against touting on all forms. Unlike most other festival and music websites we have always refused to deal with them, and have rebuffed all of the numerous approaches we have had from these companies. We always state in our replies to them that just because a scumbag tout puts on a shiny suit to give the impression of respectability they are still a scumbag tout.
This subject is being taken very seriously by all parts of the live music industry with The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) creating a Charter against secondary ticketing signed by some big hitters in live music.
To sell spare tickets away from these scumbag touts we recommend that you use the face-value resale website Scarlet Mist