The Federal Circuit ruled that Amy Weissbrod Gurvey waived her arguments after failing to oppose dismissal motions, leaving the case against Live Nation, Ticketmaster and other defendants dismissed.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the dismissal of Amy Weissbrod Gurvey’s patent-related lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster, Major League Baseball, Phish Inc. and other defendants. The three-judge panel ruled on October 26, 2026, that she had waived her appellate arguments after failing to oppose dismissal motions in the lower court, TicketNews said in its October 27 account.
The decision rests on procedure: the panel found that Gurvey could not raise substantive arguments for the first time on appeal. It did not decide whether her patents are valid or whether any defendant infringed them.
Gurvey’s legal fight with Live Nation dates to 2006, Music Business Worldwide said. She says she owns patents describing a ticketing and sports betting management system.
Gurvey filed the California lawsuit on June 2, 2023. After the defendants asked the US District Court for the Central District of California to dismiss it, she did not oppose their motions within the standard 14-day deadline. The judge extended most response deadlines to February 2, 2024, but she still filed no oppositions.
On September 27, 2024, the district court granted dismissal motions for every defendant except law firm Baker Botts. On March 13, 2025, it denied Gurvey’s request to reconsider and dismissed her claims against Baker Botts as well.
Analysis
On appeal, Gurvey argued that the district court had dismissed her complaint on its own initiative. The Federal Circuit rejected that account: the defendants had filed dismissal motions, and the judge granted them under local rules after giving her more time to respond.
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Waiver meant that Gurvey had lost the opportunity to have the panel consider arguments she had not raised in the district court. Although she represented herself, the judges cited her status as a California attorney and her extensive litigation history. They rejected the explanation that her failure to respond was an inexperienced self-represented litigant’s oversight.
The Baker Botts dismissal rested on the Noerr–Pennington doctrine, which generally protects activity seeking government action from certain legal claims. The Federal Circuit found that Gurvey had not challenged that legal basis on appeal, leaving that dismissal intact alongside the dismissals of the other defendants.
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