Electronic ticketing venture Flash Seats filed a federal lawsuit on Monday seeking to guard against what it considers patent infringement.

The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Delaware alleges that Irvine, Calif.-based Paciolan's Ticket Marketplace infringes on Flash Seats' patent for electronic ticketing. The lawsuit seeks a court order protecting its patent and awarding unspecified damages.

Flash Seats offers sports teams and live entertainment venues paperless electronic ticketing, and provides season ticket holders a way to sell and transfer seats electronically.

Sam Gerace, Cleveland-based Flash Seats' chief executive officer, said the lawsuit was filed "to protect our customers against imitators who have not done the hard work of innovation."

The Cleveland Cavaliers nearly a year ago were the first NBA team to agree to use the ticketing technology. Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert is also the principal owner of Flash Seats.

Paciolan provides sports and entertainment venues with the software needed for automated ticketing.

The company enables venues to sell directly to customers, unlike ticketing providers that compete with sports and entertainment organizations, Paciolan says on its Web site. In doing so, Paciolan says it helps to fill empty seats and improve customer relationships.

A message requesting comment was left Monday by phone and e-mail with Paciolan spokesman Shaw Taylor.

In July, a Flash Seats lawsuit was filed against Ticketmaster Inc., accusing the broker of anticompetitive and monopolistic practices.

Ticketmaster also sued the Cavaliers and Flash Seats in July in a U.S. District Court in California asking the court to rule that it has exclusive rights to handle all the team's ticket sales.

West Hollywood, Calif.-based Ticketmaster, a unit of New York-based IAC/InterActiveCorp., is the largest ticket broker in the world.