Ruling reveals ID of online Oscar ticket seller

AP, 2008-07-24 13:47:54

LOS ANGELES - A judge's ruling has brought the organization that hosts the Academy Awards a step closer to discovering how tickets to this year's show got online. An attorney for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said Wednesday that the organization has learned the identity of a person who posted an ad on Craigslist, claiming to have two tickets available for this year's show. The disclosure to the Academy comes a day after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Fahey ordered Craigslist, an online site where people can post free ads to sell everything from couches to concert tickets, had to disclose the identity of the person who posted the ad in February offering the tickets for $2,500 each. The poster was identified only as "Daniel." No one showed up on Craigslist's behalf at Tuesday's hearing. The Academy sued several people and companies in March, accusing them of selling or brokering Oscar tickets. In court documents, it states that invitees to the Academy Awards show are explicitly told they cannot sell or give their tickets away. David Quinto, an attorney working for the Academy, said the organization is trying to maintain the security of the Oscars, which each year honors Hollywood's top performers and moviemakers. "If you don't know who's inside the theater, it's very difficult to provide security," Quinto said. Attorneys for the Academy told Fahey that cases against several of the original parties named in the lawsuit have been dismissed. Attorneys said they plan to seek default judgments from two of the remaining defendants. Quinto said Wednesday the Academy plans to add the Craigslist poster to the lawsuit in the hopes of learning who bought the tickets. According to court documents, the Academy considers anyone who used someone else's Oscar's ticket to be a trespasser at the ceremony.