Dispute between Romanian publishing houses and Bookster gains momentum

Romanian company Octra, which operates the successful book lending business Bookster but claims to be a mere intermediary between (unnamed, supposedly public) libraries and corporate customers seeking to borrow books, rejected its involvement in the complaint against the publishing houses that resulted in RON 6 million (EUR 1.2 million) fines dictated by the competition body.

Octra said it took over the Bookster brand from the Education for All Children Association - "which previously owned the library and which filed the complaint with the Competition Council," Digi24 reported.

By this, Octra distances itself from the practices of the former owner of the Bookster brand and claims it is running a legitimate business in the area of (book) transportation, just like Uber Eats does in the business of (food) transportation.

Bookster was founded in 2013 by Bogdan Georgescu and Alexandra Stroe, but in 2022, the business was taken over by Octavian Radu.

Last week, the competition body set cumulated fines of RON 6 million against several publishing houses and bookstores after concluding that the subjects colluded in refusing to sell books to Bookster. The investigation was initiated by Bookster under the management of former owners.

The publishing houses deny such accusations and claim that the fines will destroy their business, which is on the verge of bankruptcy anyway.

In the past, the publishing houses accused Bookster of allegedly violating intellectual property rights by lending books against a fee while not being registered as a public library or paying royalties. At that time, the founder of Bookster praised its business model and accused the publishing houses of refusing to sell books.

As opposed to the Education for All Children Association, Octra claims it is no longer buying books (it does not own the books) but rather delivering books from public libraries (which are non-profit organisations and hence not levied royalties related to the intellectual property rights) to final customers for a fee – which represents the transportation rather than a fee for the use of the books.

RTPR law firm shed some light into the case, announcing that it "represented Bookster [actually the Education for All Children Association], in the Competition Council's investigation, in which several publishers and their trade association were fined for attempting to drive Bookster out of the market through concerted, anti-competitive activities."