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A children’s book Author Attempts to Fight Against John Lewis. The book in question was called Fred the Fire-sneezing Dragon. Here is everything you need to know.
Background:
The Claimant (Evans) is a children’s book author. One of the books published is called “Fred the Fire-sneezing Dragon” (FFD). The illustrator had assigned all her rights in relation to FFD to Evans by way of a written assignment dated 3 July 2021. This assignment included the right to sue for past, present and future infringements.
Claimant’s Position in Relation to John Lewis
The Claimant argues that since FFD was first made available to the public at the official book launch on 7 September 2017. The Claimant has since that date performed live readings of FFD, mainly at primary schools but also at a few networking events.
The Claimant has sold copies of FFD in conjunction with such live readings and events and also on Amazon and her own website, in small numbers. Between its launch in September 2017 and October 2019, she has disclosed sales totalling 914 copies, 709 of which have been via schools, 76 to family and friends, 68 on Amazon and 61 from her website. The Claimant believes she is entitled to sue John Lewis in relation to their 2019 Christmas advert which happened to include a dragon created by CGI which resembled that of FFD.
Defendant’s Position:
However, the defendant disagrees and claims that the 2019 John Lewis advert was based on a concept which was originally created by a leading creator at adame&eveDBB (who is the company responsible for making John Lewis’s adverts).
To establish whether the Defendant infringed the copyrighted work in question, the Court explained this requires a multifactorial approach which includes, ‘degree of similarity, character of the work, objective similarity and probability of coincidence.’ Based on these factors, the Court expressed that the Claimant’s case is so weak and for that reason the claim was dismissed due to the fact that on the balance of probabilities. there was no access to FFD by any of the creators involved in the development of the 2019 John Lewis advert and Excitable Edgar, thus could not have been any copying of FFD.
High Court Decision:
Subsequently, the Court made a declaration of non-infringement and granted the defendant a publicity order requiring the Claimant to publish a summary of the Court’s judgement on her website to clarify the issue to the public. The publicity order required a notice to be published for at least six months on the home page of the Claimant’s website, on her Facebook page and Twitter account which was to include a link to the judgment.
Conclusion:
As we can see from this case, it is usually impractical to challenge a national company in Court and even more so if you are a relatively small individual trying to assert your rights without enough evidence. For situations, it is more beneficial to reach out to an experienced legal team such as Lawdit who may assist you in resolving the matter through ADR.
If you have any queries related to the John Lewis ad or an alternative matter, contact our expert team of solicitors through:
or alternatively, give us a call on 023 8023 5979
By Zohaib Tahir, an LLM student at Solent University
References for the John Lewis ad Court Case
Here are some references for the John Lewis ad Court Case. Please browse them below.
- Fred the Fire-sneezing Dragon (FayEvansAuthor.CO.UK)
- Evans (FayEvansAuthor.CO.UK)
- CGI (Wikiepdia.ORG)
- 2019 John Lewis advert (YouTube.COM)
- ADR (GOV.UK)
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