Rihanna wins legal battle over T-shirts against Topshop
American pop star Rihanna on Wednesday won her legal battle in UK high court against fashion retailer Topshop, owned by billionaire entrepreneur Sir Philip Green, over T-shirts bearing her image.
The dispute between Rihanna, referred to in the judgment by her full name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, and Topshop arose when the fashion retailer started selling a T-shirt with an image of the pop star in March 2012.
Topshop had a licence from the photographer to use the image, but did not have one from Rihanna, who contends that the sale of this T-shirt without her permission infringes her rights.
Rihanna had accused the fashion retailer of passing off, or attempting to pass off, the garments as being approved by her.
Clothing retailers like Topshop, Topman, BHS, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins are owned by Sir Philip under the Arcadia Group.
Rihanna in her claim had said that Topshop in 2011 and early 2012 had offered the T-shirt for sale under the name Rihanna Tank, which was changed to Headscarf Girl Tank and to Icon Tank after her lawyers sent them a legal notice.
Justice Colin Birss of the intellectual property-chancery division of the High Court of Justice on Wednesday agreed with Rihanna. He said in his written judgment that he considered a misrepresentation was made by Topshop.
“The mere sale by a trader of a T-shirt bearing an image of a famous person is not, without more, an act of passing off. However, the sale of this image of this person on this garment by this shop in these circumstances is a different matter. I find that Topshop’s sale of this Rihanna T-shirt without her approval was an act of passing off,” the judge said in his judgment.
A “substantial number” of buyers were likely to have been deceived into buying the Rihanna T-shirt because of a “false belief” that it had been authorised by the singer, the judge said.
Justice Birss, however, did not make any assessment of damages in a written judgment published on Wednesday. Rihanna had in her claim asked for £3 million in damages from the Arcadia Group.
Rihanna, who was described as cool and edgy world famous pop star in the judgment, has a very large merchandising and endorsement operation. She as or has had endorsement agreements with Nike, Gillette, Clinique and LG Mobile, the judgment revealed.
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