John Lewis Sued By Author of Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon

The author of Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon is suing retail giant, John Lewis.

The self-published children’s book strikes an uncanny resemblance to the 2019 John Lewis advert and author Fay Evans has alleged a copyright infringement claim.

Her book is about a dragon that causes pandemonium with its sneezes that send flames flying, and is very similar to John Lewis’s dragon story about ‘Excitable Edgar’.

Evans’ Fred the Fire-Sneezing Dragon book was self-published in September 2017 while John Lewis claims their concept was first presented to them in 2016. They also claim to have evidence to prove their refutation.

In both books the naughty dragons cause trouble with their fiery sneezes until they prove useful to the community they are annoying.

Fred The Fire-Sneezing Dragon is a rhyming story about a small green dragon whose sneezes cause flames flying and annoys the humans around him, until his flames prove useful and he helps the humans cook their food. The John Lewis ad shows Edgar the dragon annoying the people near his home until he helps them by lighting their Christmas pudding.

Buy Now

“When I watched the John Lewis Christmas advert for the first time, I was gobsmacked – I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing unfold before me. The visual resemblance to the main character in Fred the Fire-Sneezing Dragon and the narrative similarity throughout was striking,” Evans said. “I’ve since heard from many readers who genuinely thought that I had worked with the makers of the advert and that they were watching Fred’s story on the television. I am totally confident in the validity of my claim and have received an overwhelming amount of public support.”

John Lewis said in a statement: “Having provided Ms Evans with the time-stamped documents that show the concept for our Christmas campaign was first presented to us in early 2016 – one year and seven months before her book was published – we are surprised to have received this claim. We strongly deny that we have copied or drawn any inspiration from the book, and will be robustly defending the claim.”

This isn’t the first time John Lewis has been under fire for copyright issues. This year an alt-folk duo claim the John Lewis has used their song without permission, and previously Chris Riddell has pointed out similarities between his book Mr Underbed, and a John Lewis advert of a hairy monster hiding under a bed.