Customers who pre-ordered the book Catch and kill about the Harvey Weinstein scandal at online bookstore Booktopia were told Tuesday that the book was "withdrawn" and received the money, reports The Guardian. The book, on the other hand, was for sale at other booksellers.
Behind the decision lies the threat of legal action from Australian journalist Dylan Howard as the author of Catch and kill, Ronan Farrow, says protected film mogul Harvey Weinstein from negative publicity.
Threats with legal actionAccording to The Guardian, Howard's lawyers contacted a number of Australian book dealers a month ago with the message that Farrow's book contains "false claims and slander".
"Our client has informed the publisher Little Brown book group (in the US and the UK) and Hachette Australia that if the defamatory content is included in the book, we have been instructed to take appropriate legal action," the lawyers write in the letter to the bookstores.
Ronan Farrow himself writes in his Twitter account that even the book giant Amazon has stopped the book in Australia. A search on Catch a Kill on amazon.com.au does not provide any hits on the book, while American Amazon lists it as the first search hit.
A week ago, the American Pen went out and condemned Dylan Howard's attempt to intervene in the book's publication.
"Threatening a book that Howard does not appear to have read, and has not yet published, with a mood of slander is not only absurd but also a regrettable attempt at censorship," the organization wrote on October 7.
To the Guardian, Howard's law firm writes that they did not warn the bookstores to sell the book, but "let the distributors know that they are at risk of being sued by our client if the false information about Mr. Howard is published".
The book is published in Swedish this year under the title Capture and Kill.