BARBADIAN ENTERTAINER Rihanna has won a legal battle with retail store Topshop over a T-shirt which has her image.
In June 2013, the singer sued Topshop’s parent company Arcadia for $5 million pounds over the image on the T-shirt which was taken back in 2011 while she was doing a video shoot.
Her attorneys successfully argued that Topshop was basically “passing off” the T-shirt which was done without the approval of the singer.
At the time, Justice Birss concluded some buyers might have been deceived into buying the shirt under the “false belief” that she had approved it.
According to reports in the British media, the Court of Appeal today upheld the ban on the sale of the shirts.
Appeal judges Lord Justice Richards, Lord Justice Kitchin and Lord Justice Underhill heard the case. Topshop lawyers had urged them to rule that Justice Birss had misunderstood the law on celebrity merchandising.
They also said there was “no intention to create an appearance of an endorsement or promotion”.
The case was unanimously dismissed by all three justices. (SAT)
