Dive Brief:

• The threat of legal action against a startup that launched a textbook price-comparison browser extension has helped the tool gain more users.

• Texts.com developed a software tool, OccupyTheBookstore, for Google’s Chrome browser. OccupyTheBookstore pops up onto bookstore websites during searches, and shows whether and where better deals can be found.

• Texts.com’s founders recently conducted a Reddit discussion, in which they revealed that a representative from Follett Higher Education Group, a retailer and wholesaler of textbooks and other educational products, threatened to “involve our legal team” if OccupyTheBookstore continued to pop up on its site. The news helped drive downloads of the software tool from 200 since April to 15,000 as of Jan. 2.

Dive Insight:

It’s unclear from reports whether the threat of legal action or the Reddit discussion in general spurred OccupyTheBookstore's popularity push, but there’s likely little Follett Higher Education Group can do in any case. Heavy price competition over book prices is old news for consumer booksellers, ever since Amazon hit the scene. Follett and other companies selling textbooks may have to join the club — compete on price or offer something else for a premium.