The Competition Council fined the big bookstores and the Publishers Association with almost 6 million lei, because they coordinated to limit the sale of books to the “library for corporations” Bookster / Cărturești, the biggest fine, 4 million lei.

The Competition Council announced on Wednesday that it fined the large bookstores and the Publishing Association with approximately 5.9 million lei (1.2 million euros), because they coordinated to limit the sale of books to the “library for corporations” Bookster. Cărturesți received the biggest fine, 4 million lei.

• Launched in 2013, Library it presented itself at that time as the “Uber, Spotify or Airbnb” of local public libraries, with tens of thousands of subscribers, and the business model of lending books to company employees for free. As a result, subscription companies paid to transport borrowed books to the office.

The fees were applied as follows:

• Publication of Curtea Veche SRL – 422,220.85 lei
• Nemira Publishing House SRL – 324.636,37 lei
• USA Humanitarian – 365,718.84 lei
• Publica Com SRL – 174,677.34 lei
• Direct Client Services SRL (Cărtureşti Bookstore) – 3,982,290.66 lei
• Humanitas SA book stores – 582,362.94 lei
• Association of Romanian Publishers – 115,696.04 lei

The competition authority found, after an investigation, that the six companies together with the image association in the field were coordinating their commercial strategies and limiting the sale of books to the organizations that managed the library. Libraryin the period 2017-2020.

Bookster purchased books from publishers and bookstores, which were then made available to subscribers on a subscription basis paid by the readers’ employer companies.

The Publishing Houses and the Bookstores, with the support of the efforts of the AER, believed that the activities carried out by Bookster are not limited to a public library and that it does not comply with the rules of the book supply market and that it does not pay enough for copyright. .

“We cannot state the scope of applicability of other laws, but tall laws must be respected, including competition law. Edits and bookstores had to work only through legal means to achieve their goals” said Bogdan Chirițoiu, president of the Competition Council.

The investigation was initiated as a result of the complaint submitted by the Education for All Children Association, which owned the Bookster library.

We remind you that the competition law prohibits any agreements between companies and concerted practices that prevent, limit or distort competition in the Romanian market.

The Competition Council’s investigation has begun in the year 2021.

Bookster, advertised by publishing houses in 2019

In 2019, ten of the largest publishing houses in the country and the Association of Romanian Publishers (AER) sued the company and association, which operates the Bookster library, for “act in unfair competition”. The Ministry of Culture, the institution responsible for licensing libraries, also appears as a defender in the process.

Bookster – which offers free library services but contracts with companies and makes money by carrying and delivering books to employees of those companies – has been active in the market for several years and claims to have provided millions in book loans.

He wrote about the matter first Hot news.roin November 2019, saying the parties were refusing to provide any relevant details about the lawsuit.

On February 11, several articles about the experiment, one article in particular, went viral on Facebook RFI.ro. The articles sparked discussions on Facebook between Bookster supporters, who criticized the publishers for not being able to adapt to the new and for “greed”, on the one hand, and Bookster critics, on the other. , which indicated that it would be this service. only one wins (to the displeasure of authors and publishers) using the output of others. The article above addresses the problem as follows: “The publishing houses sued Bookster, because the development of this library, whose customers are employees of large companies in Romania, would , affect their sales. According to publishers, the fact that some of the latest titles are on the loan market reduces the desire to buy books” – but the article does not mention publishers, who refuse to discuss their ‘ this subject, but representatives of Bookster.

Online debates have led to the fact that the interest in the process largely depends on the working model by which Bookster earns money from delivery, unlike classic public libraries, as well as the legitimacy of the library’s activity – with opinion or by decision of authority. .

details, HERE.