diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 0b6e24908..5aaa0c4a1 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ Unreleased
 - Fix: A colon in a decorator expression would cause an exclusion to end too
   early, preventing the exclusion of the decorated function. This is now fixed.
 
+- Fix: The HTML report now will not overwrite a .gitignore file that already
+  exists in the HTML output directory (follow-on for `issue 1244`_).
+
 
 .. _changes_612:
 
diff --git a/coverage/html.py b/coverage/html.py
index 526890504..d018d0f01 100644
--- a/coverage/html.py
+++ b/coverage/html.py
@@ -226,8 +226,10 @@ def make_local_static_report_files(self):
 
         # .gitignore can't be copied from the source tree because it would
         # prevent the static files from being checked in.
-        with open(os.path.join(self.directory, ".gitignore"), "w") as fgi:
-            fgi.write("# Created by coverage.py\n*\n")
+        gitigore_path = os.path.join(self.directory, ".gitignore")
+        if not os.path.exists(gitigore_path):
+            with open(gitigore_path, "w") as fgi:
+                fgi.write("# Created by coverage.py\n*\n")
 
         # The user may have extra CSS they want copied.
         if self.extra_css:
diff --git a/tests/test_html.py b/tests/test_html.py
index 51062f732..c8f9c1e61 100644
--- a/tests/test_html.py
+++ b/tests/test_html.py
@@ -284,6 +284,13 @@ def test_status_format_change(self):
         assert "htmlcov/helper2_py.html" in self.files_written
         assert "htmlcov/main_file_py.html" in self.files_written
 
+    def test_dont_overwrite_gitignore(self):
+        self.create_initial_files()
+        self.make_file("htmlcov/.gitignore", "# ignore nothing")
+        self.run_coverage()
+        with open("htmlcov/.gitignore") as fgi:
+            assert fgi.read() == "# ignore nothing"
+
 
 class HtmlTitleTest(HtmlTestHelpers, CoverageTest):
     """Tests of the HTML title support."""