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Singer beats Topshop UK in legal battle over image right

The singer dragged the company to court in 2013 for using her picture on their t-shirts without her permission.

Rihanna (real name, Robyn Fenty) has been proclaimed the victor over a 3-year image right legal fight with top UK fashion brand, Topshop, Thursday January 21.

Britain's Court of Appeal agreed to an earlier judgment against the fashion brand – owned by billionaire Philip Green's Arcadia Group - for illegally using the singer's image to promote a new T-shirt design.

The "Rude Boy" crooner dragged the company to court and a judge ruled in her favor back in 2013 stating shoppers have been deceived to buy branded tees carrying the singer's face, a picture taken by a freelance photographer in Northern Ireland.

The Court rejected Topshop's appeal against the decision accusing the retailer of infringing Rihanna's right.

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Topshop claimed the photographer gave them the license but the court stated that RiRi didn't give them the permission.

In a statement by intellectual property lawyer, Jeremy Blum form law firm Bristows,

"In this case, both the Court of Appeal and High Court were at pains to spell out that it is not an infringement just to use someone else’s image... But that on the facts of the case they both agreed that the circumstances surrounding the image’s use on the T-shirt meant there was a false misrepresentation which they said led to passing-off."

Even though in Britain, celebrities do not own the rights to their image, but in this case, passing off means deceiving a potential buyer into thinking goods or services on sale are those of another.

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