diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Templates.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Templates.hs
index 19c9a808a..4a850fc6f 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Templates.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Templates.hs
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ getDefaultTemplate :: (Maybe FilePath) -- ^ User data directory to search first
                    -> String           -- ^ Name of writer 
                    -> IO (Either E.IOException String)
 getDefaultTemplate _ "native" = return $ Right ""
+getDefaultTemplate _ "json"   = return $ Right ""
 getDefaultTemplate user "odt" = getDefaultTemplate user "opendocument"
 getDefaultTemplate user "epub" = getDefaultTemplate user "html"
 getDefaultTemplate user writer = do