So after a very wild week where Frankfurt Book Fair claimed dibs on a book fair of its own in London to compete with Reed's annual fair, the resulting melee has Reed the winner - with the very dates and location that Frankfurt announced were theirs. Not surprisingly, FBF CEO Jurgen Boos was awfully pissed about the turnabout, accusing EC&O Venues, which runs Earls Court and Olympia, of reneging on its deal with Frankfurt. He said in a statement reprinted by the Bookseller: "We believed we had an agreement with EC&O Venues which was subsequently broken by them. We are therefore no longer able to pursue The Book Fair, Earl's Court, London 2007. We are currently evaluating with our lawyers whether legal action can be taken."

But Earl's Court CEO Jeremy Probert was, shall we say, somewhat churlish when asked for comment by the Independent: "Do you see the words 'signed an agreement' anywhere on the Frankfurt press release?" Ouch.

So sure, Reed gets the win, a centralized location that even naysayers like agent Stella Kane - who was thisclose to setting up a separate rights exhibition at the Mayfair - can love. But why did it have to take a public fight with reneged deals, bitter squabbles and potential repercussions to make this happen? Was it really so difficult for Reed to say something like, "gee, people really don't seem so keen on ExCeL, why can't we see if we can get a better location at another time?"

But looking further down the line, it seems as if thinking things through isn't exactly a strong suit for anyone concerned. Because with the London Book Fair now pushed back to mid-April, that means it's ever closer to when BEA takes place - and thus impacts on what rights will be sold there, and the conference's overall importance. (Or as one insider put it, Reed UK managed to screw over its American cousin just as well as it screwed over Frankfurt. Nice!)

Which begs the question: in an age when Publishers Marketplace posts deals all year round, when blogs demystify the publishing industry and report news as it happens, and the Internet opens things up that much further - and when rights conferences such as BEA just lead everybody into a never ending bitch-and-moanfest - why is this all necessary? Granted, impressing upon the industry just how insanely big it is and how much more difficult it is to do business is an important lesson to learn every year, but is it all more trouble than it's worth?