January 25, 2018 (Marshall, TX) – After a two year battle, an East Texas jury sided with CEATS, Inc. this week and found that TicketNetwork, Inc. and TicketSoftware, LLC, titans in the online ticketing industry, breached their Settlement Agreement with CEATS. In U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s courtroom in Marshall, Texas, the jury deliberated for nearly nine hours before returning a verdict in favor of CEATS and awarding $459,800 in compensatory damages.

Jennifer Doan, Josh Thane, Randy Roeser, and Cole Riddell, all of Haltom & Doan, represented CEATS at trial.

The case was the result of TicketNetwork not honoring a Settlement Agreement that arose out of a 2012 patent infringement lawsuit where CEATS accused TicketNetwork of infringing its online ticketing patents. TicketNetwork is an online marketplace, similar to eBay, that provides an outlet for buyers and sellers of live event tickets. On the third day of the patent infringement lawsuit, CEATS and TicketNetwork decided to resolve their dispute with CEATS providing TicketNetwork a license to CEATS patented technology. Pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, TicketNetwork was required to pay a $.50 cents per ticket transaction royalty if they decided to enable the “Subject Functionality” feature on its website. In addition, the contract required the company to report its decision to use the “Subject Functionality” on or before Feb. 1 of the following year. At trial, under cross-examination by Ms. Doan and Mr. Thane, TicketNetwork’s witnesses finally admitted to enabling the “Subject Functionality”, but never complied with the Settlement Agreement’s $.50 cents royalty requirement.

Jennifer Doan, lead counsel for CEATS, was very pleased with the results. “CEATS trusted the people of East Texas to make a decision in this hard fought litigation. Jury trials are never easy, but CEATS never relented and achieved success against unfavorable odds.”

TicketNetwork was represented by McKool Smith, Fish & Richardson, and Ward, Smith & Hill.
CEATS, INC. v. TICKETNETWORK, INC. AND TICKET SOFTWARE, LLC., 2:15-cv-1470-JRG- RSP in the United States District Court For the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division