Bogdan Georgescu, one of the founders of Bookster – the innovative library turned book delivery service currently embroiled in a legal dispute with publishers – explained that although it operates as a public library, it pays royalties to the relevant collective intellectual property administration CopyRo, in accordance with current legislation, Ziarul Financiar reported.
The focus of the legal dispute between the parties appears to be the royalties: while Bookster claims to have paid its fees lawfully, but not to the publishers, the publishers claim that Bookster has evaded paying the royalties.
“Romania’s largest publishers demanded that Bookster pay the copyright fee for the public loans that Bookster paid to the collecting societies,” he said, explaining the essence of the lawsuit, which Bookster won in the first instance.
Separately, the competition authority has reprimanded several major publishers and bookstores for allegedly coordinated decisions not to sell books to Bookster. The affected companies will appeal against the fine.
When the Romanian Publishers Association (AER) initiated proceedings against Bookster, it claimed that Bookster “buys books like any commercial company, but then lends them out, acts like a public library and makes a profit without paying royalties to the author,” Economedia.ro reported, citing Ionuț Trupina, the manager of the Humanitas bookstore.
(Image source: Lapandr/Dreamstime.com)
