As the Borders bankruptcy drags on publishers are starting to file motions with the bankruptcy court asking for the return of books for which they have not been paid. It is now almost a month since Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (see “Borders Files Chapter 11”). Borders has begun liquidating stock at more than 200 locations that the company is shuttering (see “Borders Store Liquidations Underway”), but so far no reorganization plan has been approved that would allowed a leaner Borders chain to emerge from Chapter 11.
 
According to mediabistro, publishers have begun filing motions for the return of unpaid stock. The Christian publisher Thomas Nelson has petitioned the court for the return in $52,000 in books that it has shipped to Borders over the past few months, and magazine publisher Source Interlink wants all the product that it has shipped to Borders in 2011 returned. While Thomas Nelson’s Borders debt is relatively small, Source Interlink is one of the beleaguered chains top 30 unsecured creditors with unpaid obligations of almost $7 million.