Updated 11 September 8.30am - Added National Book Council comments
Two book distributors are accusing the National Book Council of refusing to grant them a stand at an exhibition because their company names are similar to those of competitors.
Sierra Publications Limited and Prime Distributors Limited filed a judicial protest in which they are attributing abusive behaviour to the National Book Council and holding it responsible for damages.
They said they had applied for a stand at the Malta Book Festival 2016, but the council’s executive chairman, Mark Camilleri, informed them via e-mail that their request was being turned down.
Mr Camilleri, they added, said the refusal was based on the fact that their “company names are similar to names of other companies in the book industry and we, thus, [found] your choice of names for your companies highly unethical and irregular”.
After the two distributors objected, they said Mr Camilleri replied saying “…we stand by our decision of withholding participation from the Book Festival of Prime Distributors Ltd (PDL), which has been set up specifically and for the intention to have an acronym sounding just like BDL, an established book distributor, and your other related outfit, Sierra Distributors, which bears the same trade name of another company owned by unrelated parties, Sierra Book Distributors”.
In their protest, the two firms said Mr Camilleri and the book council were “factually and legally wrong” and the council did not have any remit on the choice of company names or breaches of trade names.
They said that in their years of operation, no one had ever complained about the names and nor was any court case ever instituted against them.
Prime Distributors Limited said it never used the acronym PDL. The companies called on the National Book Council to reverse its decision and desist from preventing their stand at the Malta Book Festival, which will be held in November at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.
Lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar and legal procurator Marie Claire Bartolo signed the judicial protests.
'Companies engage in fraud' - Council
In a reply, National Book Council executive chairman Mark Camilleri said that both companies were related to a convicted fraudster "who has made quite a name for himself with his illegal and irregular practices in the book industry."
Aside from concerns about the similarity in company names, practices included selling photocopied versions of books under copyright, he said.
"We've repeatedly asked him to work ethically, but he doesn't want to cooperate. Practically every book publisher has complained about him," Mr Camilleri said.