Watchdog’s Viagogo injunction bid fails

The Commerce Commission has failed to win an injunction to force Swiss online ticket resale marketplace Viagogo to change the way it does business.

The commission argued before the High Court at Auckland earlier this month that Viagogo was misleading consumers, and even enabling invalid tickets to be sold, leading to about 750 complaints to the commission.

But Justice Patricia Courtney ruled that Viagogo had not been served notice, even though it knew about the legal action.

Aaron Lloyd, the lawyer representing Viagogo, told the court that once formally served, the company intended to argue that the court had no jurisdiction over it. Viagogo is based in Switzerland, does business online, and has no New Zealand office.

The judge noted: ‘‘Formal service in Switzerland will, apparently, take some six months.’’

She refused to grant the interim injunction until Viagogo had been formally served, and had the chance to argue its case.

The commission did not seek the injunction to stop Viagogo reselling concert and event tickets to Kiwis, but only to stop it from continuing to make statements the commission believed breached the Fair Trading Act.

The commission’s long-term aim was to have the court declare that Viagogo had breached the act, though no court date has been set for that to be argued.

In the injunction hearing earlier this month, lawyers representing the commission described Viagogo’s website as a ‘‘marketplace for scalpers and fraudsters’’.

The commission presented evidence including affidavits from New Zealanders who had purchased tickets through Viagogo only to find the tickets had been sold multiple times.

Other customers who bought tickets off the site discovered they had been charged more than they had agreed to.

Other countries, including Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, Britain and Australia have brought similar cases against the company. It has been fined in Italy and sued by international soccer agency Fifa.