Becket McGrath was quoted in the Global Competition Review on 2nd of September, as he shared his insight and expertise on the ongoing online ticketing conflict.
CMA urged to clarify legality of Oasis ticketing fiasco
by Janith Aranze
The UK’s largest consumer rights organisation wants the Competition and Markets Authority to “urgently clarify” whether the dynamic pricing model used by Ticketmaster to sell Oasis tickets is legal under competition and consumer protection law.
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Becket McGrath, a partner at Euclid Law in London, said consumer protection law could be the most appropriate tool to address any issues from dynamic pricing in the UK. “Consumer protection law is very flexible, which allows the CMA to look into misleading claims and website design and architecture”.
“Even if Ticketmaster said the artists chose the policy, the CMA could look at the specific presentation of the information through the website under consumer law,” he added.
The CMA is set to enjoy beefed up consumer protection powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act, which is expected to enter into force this autumn, and allows it to impose fines of up to 10% of a business’s global annual turnover for violations.
McGrath said it would be difficult for the authority to use antitrust tools to enforce against the conduct. The CMA has previously used excessive pricing rules in the pharmaceutical sector, where prices for drugs rose by over 10,000% in certain cases, however, that has not happened in this instance, he said.
Crucially, the CMA would also have to show dominance, he said. “Whilst Ticketmaster could be dominant as a ticketing platform, it has said that artists set the prices for the tickets, and it is hard to see how any artist could be found to be dominant on a relevant economic market,” he added.
To read the full article for GCR subscribers, follow the link : https://lnkd.in/dx_P_JaP
