// John Lewis facing High Court showdown after an author has sued the retailer over a copyright dispute
// Children’s author Fay Evans is suing John Lewis and the advertising agency DDB UK behind its Excitable Edgar ad
John Lewis is set for a High Court showdown after an author is taking legal action over an alleged copyright infringement over its 2019 Christmas advert, Excitable Edgar.
Children’s author Fay Evans is suing the department store retailer and the advertising agency DDB UK behind its Excitable Edgar ad after it featured a “striking similarity” to her debut book, Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon.
John Lewis refute the claims.
Evans’ Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon book was self published in September 2017, and John Lewis’ Excitable Edgar was released in 2019.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
A trial date for the “David versus Goliath” copyright case was originally set for November 2021 and has now been set for 30 and 31 January 2023 in the specialist Intellectual Property division of the High Court of Justice.
It is understood that lawyers for John Lewis will argue in court that at an earlier hearing Evans acknowledged that storyboards for the 2019 ad had been produced in 2016, 19 months before her book was published.
However, Andy Lee, a partner at the law firm Brandsmiths, which is representing Evans, insisted to The Times that the author had “not conceded any part of her case against John Lewis and their suggestion is inconsistent with the matter proceeding to trial”.
Evans has previously said that the documents were “utterly irrelevant” to her case, as she said the issue is not “when the idea first emerged” but about the “creative process” of transforming the idea into the advert.
John Lewis told The Times: “We have always refuted and continue to refute this.
“We take great care and pride in the creation of our Christmas adverts. Ms Evans has accepted in the court proceedings that the concept for our 2019 Christmas campaign was first presented to us in early 2016 — one year and seven months before her book was published. We were not aware of Ms Evans’s book until after our ad had aired, and we are confident the claim will be dismissed.”
“The legal process over the past year has proved very enlightening and I’m feeling more confident than ever in the validity of my claim,” Evans said.
“I’ve received an overwhelming amount of public support and I’m proud to be taking a stand for fellow creative artists – including authors, illustrators and musicians – whether they are relatively unknown or at the top of their game, the same principle applies.
“The original creative work we strive with all our heart to develop and publish is fundamentally protected by the law of copyright.”
