Prague - It was first the publishing house Albatros that accused Tesco chain of breaching a contract by selling the freshly released Harry Potter series prematurely and under price. Now the tables turned on Albatros and it is Tesco that wants to sue the publisher for abusing its monopoly position.
Internet store Vltava Stores delivered thousands of copies of the popular new Harry Potter books via a third company to Czech Tesco Stores.
For breaking the contract the publishing house Albatros which printed all Czech copies of the bestseller now wants eight to ten million crowns as compensation from the Vltava Stores and considers suing Tesco.
Vltava Stores director confirmed that his company delivered the books to Tesco Stores via a third company because the publishing house Albatros broke their exclusive rights for web sales in the Czech Republic before.
Vltava Stores decided therefore to sell about half of the books they originally purchased from Albatros.
Contract violation not a criminal act
The Tesco chain was able to offer the seventh installment of the Harry Potter series already on February 5, even though Albatros stated before the book was published that the last part of Harry Potter would not be sold in supermarket chains until the beginning of March.
Albatros already filed a complaint against Vltava Stores for illegal production and distribution of the books.
Tesco denied from the very beginning that they were selling illegal copies of Harry Potter.
Albatros accepted that and decided that Tesco and Vltava stores did not illegally produce and distribute the books but violated the distribution contract instead.
Contract violation however is not included within the criminal law but within the civil law. Albatros will therefore take back their criminal complaint.
Abusing dominant position
In the mean time, the Antimonopoly Office stepped in, examining if the publishing house Albatros has not abused its dominant position in the market by delivering the book to certain sellers later than to the others.
Albartos claims they decided to deliver books to the chains later because those would sell the book for a lower price and before the official selling date.
Tesco promised to work with the police but would not comment on the case in public.
"I can confirm that it was not Vltava Stores who delivered the books to us," Jana Matoušková, the spokeswoman for Tesco Stores Czech Republic told aktualne.cz.
"We will not publish the name of the distributor unless we have its permission," Matoušková said.
To avoid losts
Vltava Stores defend themselves, saying that they were forced to their action by economic necessity.
They claim that Albatros did not keep their promise of Vltava Stores being the exclusive internet seller of the book. They claim that delivering the book to Tesco Stores was a way to avoid losts.
In the same time they accept that they broke one of the clauses in their contract with Albatros that forbid them to sell books to supermarket chains.
Albatros denies that it ever granted exclusivity to Vltava Stores in its Tuesday press report.
The most disputed book
"The contract was signed on 18 January in the time when a massive campaign was already launched by many internet stores," CEO of Albatros Michal Krejčí said.
"We would never oblige to anything that we would already be violating while signing the contract," Krejčí denies Vltava Stores story.
Krejčí says that Vltava stores were causing troubles even before they sold the books to Tesco. Krejčí claims they took too long to return the signed contract and later would not pay the total amount for the books.
Harry Potter will not be only the most disputed book of 2008 but most likely it will be the most sold book of the year.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that entered the Czech market on January 31 after midnight costs 549 CZK in book stores and 499 CZK in Tesco.
