Gervais sued for Flanimals 'plagiarism'

Comedian and actor Ricky Gervais is being sued by an author claiming that he plagiarised his work for the bestselling book Flanimals.

Writer and artist John Savage has issued a High Court writ against Gervais claiming the book copied his own unpublished Captain Pottie's Wildlife Encyclopedia.

According to the BBC, the writ claims that Mr Savage’s artistic and literary copyright has been infringed by the British star; a claim he denies.

Savage said:

“The next stage is the High Court will send a copy of the writ to Mr Gervais' lawyers and they have two weeks to decide whether to defend or accede to my request.”

A spokeswoman for Gervais said:

“This story goes back several years, when John Savage first made contact with Ricky Gervais' representatives. At the time it was made clear that the concept and illustrations of Flanimals pre-existed John Savage's work. To date Ricky Gervais has not received any formal court proceedings from Mr Savage.”

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