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ARTICLE · 12 MAY 2023

Here Be Dragons: Copyright Claim Slayed In The IPEC

Maucher Jenkins
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The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) has found the fictional dragon which appeared in a John Lewis Christmas advert and in a spin-off illustrated children's book entitled...

United KingdomIntellectual Property
Janet Strath
Janet Strath

The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) has found the fictional dragon which appeared in a John Lewis Christmas advert and in a spin-off illustrated children's book entitled "Excitable Edgar" did not infringe the copyright in a self-published children's picture book called "Fred the Fire-sneezing Dragon" written by Fay Evans.

Background

Fred the Fire-sneezing Dragon was an illustrated rhyming story officially launched on 7 September 2017, which featured Fred, a sad and lonely young dragon living in a human world who accidentally emitted fire when he sneezed, which annoyed the human characters as the uncontrollable fiery emissions caused books and pencils to burn, ice-cream in the school tuck shop to melt and set fire to trees while on a cross-country run. However, Fred's fiery sneezes ultimately saved the day when the school canteen oven broke, and he was able to win the affection of the humans in the story by cooking the school lunch with his flames.

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