National Book Fair organisers heaved a sigh of relief today after a court revoked a provisional injunction filed against them. 

The injunction had been filed by Dom Communications, a book distributor locked in an ongoing dispute with the National Book Council and its executive chairman Mark Camilleri. 

The National Book Council had denied Dom Communications the right to participate in the annual festival, saying the company had infringed copyright laws and was associated with convicted fraudster Josef Grech. 

Dom Communications had hit back by filing a request for a prohibitory injunction on November 9, the first day of the annual National Book Festival.  

In its application, the company had asked the court to stop the defendants from organising, opening, inaugurating and holding this year's Malta Book Festival. The festival is being held at Valletta's Mediterranean Conference Centre until this upcoming Sunday. 

A civil court presided by judge Jacqueline Padovani Grima found that the injunction could cause untold harm to the National Book Fair and the various book distributors who depended on the fair for a substantial part of their national income.  

The court declared that confirming this warrant of prohibitory injunction would cause extensive damages by way of a multiplier effect. It could also possibly cause irreparable harm to the Malta Book Festival.

Dom Communications had brought no evidence of the proceedings which it claimed to have instituted following the provisional warrant, the court said. 

For these reasons the court rejected the claim of the book distributor, revoked the prohibitory injunction and ordered Dom Communications to pay the costs of the lawsuit.