John Lewis wins court battle over Edgar the dragon's Christmas advert

The John Lewis Christmas advert in 2019 featured an excitable dragon called Edgar

John Lewis has won a court battle with an author who claimed the retailer had copied one of her designs in an advert.

The department store's Christmas advert in 2019 featured a fire-breathing but friendly green dragon named Edgar.

Fay Evans, from Macclesfield, Cheshire, claimed Edgar bore a "striking" resemblance to her character, Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon.

But a High Court judge ruled on Monday there was no evidence the team behind the advert had been aware of her work.

The commercial first aired in November 2019, after which Ms Evans suggested on social media that it had been copied from her own story.

The self-published children's author sued John Lewis as well as Adam & Eve DDB, the creative agency behind the ad.

At a hearing in January, John Lewis and the agency disputed the claim, arguing there were "numerous and substantial differences" between Ms Evans' book and the advert.

The retail chain said nobody involved in making the advert or a spin-off book, titled Excitable Edgar, had been aware of Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon.

Author Fay Evans, pictured in January 2023, said Edgar was similar to her character Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon

The two companies also argued that the ad was based on a concept that was first pitched to John Lewis in 2016 before being chosen in 2019. Ms Evans' illustrated book was published in 2017.

Both stories involve friendly dragons who struggle to fit in due to their fire-breathing abilities.

In the John Lewis advert, Excitable Edgar is seen accidentally melting a child's snowman, setting fire to Christmas decorations, and burning through an ice rink, creating a hole.

In Ms Evans' story, Fred struggles to control his fire-breathing at school, but is later encouraged to use his power to cook meals for fellow pupils.

Lawyers for Ms Evans accepted the advert was drawn up a year before her book was published, but argued that other elements not featured in the 2016 outline had breached her copyright regardless.

The court heard that only 914 copies of Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon had been sold up to October 31 2019, with more than 700 of those coming out of primary school visits.

John Lewis's window displays featured Excitable Edgar in the run-up to Christmas 2019

However, Mrs Justice Clarke said there "was not a scrap of evidence" John Lewis or the agency had seen Ms Evans' story before the legal battle started.

While the judge accepted both stories focused on "a friendly dragon which finds it difficult to control its fire", she ruled these are "entirely commonplace features, almost ubiquitous in depictions of dragons".

"The similarities between Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon on the one hand and Excitable Edgar are few in number and can easily be explained by coincidence rather than copying."

She added: "There can be no copying if the work alleged to have been copied has not been accessed (i.e. seen, in this case) by those said to have copied it."

"I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that… there can have been no copying."

Mrs Justice Clarke ordered Ms Evans to publish the outcome on her website, which the writer had previously used to publicise the row.

Excitable Edgar prompted a spin-off book and soft toys. which were sold in John Lewis stores

A spokesman for John Lewis and Adam & Eve DDB said: "We take great pride and care in our Christmas advert and are glad that the judge recognised the originality of Excitable Edgar.

"We are pleased that the matter is now resolved after the court found there was no copyright infringement."

Following the ruling, Ms Evans said: "From today I'm looking forward to writing more original stories for children and developing Fred The Musical, ready for its premiere in July 2023 at the Liverpool Theatre Festival."