Ticket Policy Forum, the organization representing third-party ticket resellers including SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, and TickPick, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for D.C. today to block enforcement of the Restricting Egregious Scalping Against Live Entertainment (RESALE) Amendment Act of 2025, which D.C. Council passed in July. The forum has also filed a request for a preliminary injunction that would stop the city from enforcing the new law “pending final judgment in this action.”
Set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, the RESALE Act was passed unanimously by the Council in an effort to protect consumers who purchase resold tickets for events taking place in the District via third-party websites (such as SeatGeek, Ticket Center, and Vivid Seats). The act creates legislative guardrails that include barring the sale of speculative tickets (where vendors offer tickets they don’t actually own) and capping the resold ticket price at a 10 percent markup from the original cost.
Arguing that fewer than 1 percent of the resale transactions last year involved both a D.C. seller and buyer, Ticket Policy Forum’s suit claims that by setting a price cap the law violates the Commerce Clause and the Home Rule Act, which bars the District from regulating commerce beyond its borders.
The suit also claims that it violates the Due Process Clause, which prevents a government from setting rates so low that businesses cannot be compensated for their services or earn a reasonable return on their investment, and that the caps on the original sale price cannot be confirmed.
According to the suit, the RESALE Act allegedly violates the First Amendment, which not only protects the right for free speech but also “the right to refrain from speaking at all.” The suit argues that, “The original-price-disclosure mandate compels Plaintiffs to make, before publishing an offer to resell a ticket to a covered event, a statement that they would not otherwise make—the original purchase price of the ticket. … That disclosed information is a disclosure about the goods and services of third parties in a previous transaction, not information about the terms under which Plaintiffs’ services will be offered in the current transaction. The Act thus is a content-based regulation of commercial speech subject to at least intermediate scrutiny.”
“The fact is the D.C. Council had to follow the law and they didn’t,” Brian Berry, executive director of the Ticket Policy Forum, tells City Paper. “They violated the Constitution on multiple grounds. They had an opportunity to approach this legally and they didn’t.”
The suit asks the court to declare the Act unconstitutional and unlawful and that the D.C. law “is invalid and unenforceable in its entirety.” If injunctive relief isn’t granted, the suit requests the court “award just compensation” to the plaintiffs as well as “their costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees.”
Proponents of the RESALE Act, including I.M.P. Productions (which owns the 9:30 Club, the Anthem, and the Atlantis), disagree.
“The RESALE Act is a huge win for concert and theatre ticket buyers in DC,” Audrey Fix Schaefer, I.M.P.’s director of communications, tells City Paper via email. “I suppose it’s unsurprising when the predatory resellers fought and lost at the Council, they decided to turn to other outlandish means in hopes of continuing to take millions of dollars out of the district and into the pockets of the scalpers who don’t pay the artist, the venue’s rent, our employees, and they curtail people’s ability to enjoy more shows and frequent more restaurants.”
“Last month alone, I.M.P. tracked $13.9 million worth of listings on resale platforms for our venues, across more than 111,000 tickets—92% of those tickets were listed above face value,” Schaefer adds. “We truly look forward to the law taking effect January 1.”
Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who introduced the RESALE Act in April 2025, responded to Ticket Policy Forum’s lawsuit shortly after it was filed: “I introduced this law because companies like the ones behind this lawsuit are gouging DC residents using technology to scoop up as many live music tickets as they can and resell them at inflated prices – a scam that’s been extremely lucrative for them for years,” Allen said in his statement.
“Under my bill, that show is over. However, it’s not surprising to see them try for an encore to preserve these enormous profits and the status quo. I think their time would be better spent preparing for January 1 when music fans will finally catch a break on the outrageous price mark-ups.”
