Prague The supermarket chain Tesco is planning to sell the seventh and last instalment of JK Rowling's book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The exclusive distributor of the series, Albatros Publishing House, refuses to sign a contract and says published copies are fake.
The supermarket war, decried by the bookshops for a long time, might finally come to a head in the court.
Tesco´s defence
Tesco, replying to Albatros in an open letter, claims that it is offering original copies rather than fakes and that the publisher is misleading its customers. "We acquired the copies on sale legally through a regular contract with our supplier," Tesco's letter says.
Recently, Albatros has been refusing to sign contracts with Tesco and other chains claiming previous books about the famous wizard series were sold either before their release date, or for a lower price.
Before launching the last instalment of the saga on January 31, at the cost of CZK 549 (US$31, £16), Albatros announced the seventh Harry Potter book wouldn't be available in the large supermarket chains before March 1.
Change of tactics
Originally, Tesco agreed saying it would wait for the deadline. Now its branches are offering the books at CZK 499 (US$ 28.50, £14.50) and Tesco says Albatros's attitude is tantamount to unfair competition and libel.
It denies Albatros's allegations and says it would take legal action unless it obtained redress from the publishing house.
Albatros is being asked to withdraw its statements relating to Tesco's offer publicly.
"Albatros has no contract on supplying Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to Tesco hypermarkets. As a consequence, Albatros did not provide them with any copies of the book. No existing contract would allow our other partners to deliver copies of the books either," Michal Krejčí, the Director General of Albatros, told Aktuálně.cz on Tuesday morning.
The copies sold at the supermarkets must be fakes as a consequence, he added.
Black market with Harry Potter series
Albatros started criminal proceedings against perpetrators unknown for illegal production and distribution of the book. At the same time, Albatros called on Tesco to stop selling the book pending police investigation.
"Should Tesco ignore our request, we are ready to protect interests of both the author of the book and Albatros publishing house through courts including an application to get an injunction to stop the sales deemed illegal," Mr Krejčí added.
Tesco maintains it did nothing wrong. "I am not going to reveal our source, but we are ready to produce documentation showing we sell original copies of the book," the supermarket chain's corporate manager, Ms Jana Matoušková said.
But she refused to be drawn into the argument about whether the copies sold might be those of the Albatros translation of the book that Tesco would get through alternative channels, saying she's not authorized to share this kind of information.
Breaking the rules
According to the magazine Týden, Supermarket chains Tesco, Hypernova and Globus were selling the sixth Harry Potter instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, up to 33% cheaper than the booksellers' recommended price.
As a consequence, smaller bookshops were unable to compete with them. At the same time, the supermarkets broke Albatros's deadline for the start of the sale of the book.
In 2004, large quantities of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix remained unsold at the bookshops that ordered large number of copies while customers kept buying the novel at the supermarkets.
The seventh and last book, concluding the Harry Potter saga after over ten years, is certain to become bestseller in 2008.
Its original print run to 200 thousand copies and there are special boxed editions of the whole series ready to hit the bookshops.
