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| Rihanna wins Topshop T-shirt court case | Rihanna wins Topshop T-shirt court case |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Pop singer Rihanna has won a legal battle with Topshop over a T-shirt bearing her image. | Pop singer Rihanna has won a legal battle with Topshop over a T-shirt bearing her image. |
| The star sued Topshop's parent company Arcadia for $5 million (£3.3m) over the T-shirts, which featured a photo taken during a video shoot in 2011. | The star sued Topshop's parent company Arcadia for $5 million (£3.3m) over the T-shirts, which featured a photo taken during a video shoot in 2011. |
| Her lawyers told the High Court in London the fashion chain duped fans and may have damaged her reputation. | Her lawyers told the High Court in London the fashion chain duped fans and may have damaged her reputation. |
| They said the picture was "very similar" to images used on CD sleeves for one of her albums. | They said the picture was "very similar" to images used on CD sleeves for one of her albums. |
| Judge, Mr Justice Birss, ruled that a "substantial number" of buyers were likely to have been deceived into buying the T-shirt because of a "false belief" that it had been approved by the singer. | |
| He said it was damaging to her "goodwill" and represented a loss of control over her reputation in the "fashion sphere". | |
| Topshop's lawyers had claimed the 25-year-old was making an unjustifiable bid to establish a "free standing image right" over use of her picture in the UK. | Topshop's lawyers had claimed the 25-year-old was making an unjustifiable bid to establish a "free standing image right" over use of her picture in the UK. |
| The photograph used by Topshop had been taken during filming of a music video in Northern Ireland in 2011. | |
| In a two-minute judgment Mr Justice Birss, said there was "no such thing as a general right by a famous person to control the reproduction of their image". | |
| "The taking of the photograph is not suggested to have breached Rihanna's privacy," he continued. | "The taking of the photograph is not suggested to have breached Rihanna's privacy," he continued. |
| "The mere sale by a trader of a T-shirt bearing an image of a famous person is not an act of passing off. | "The mere sale by a trader of a T-shirt bearing an image of a famous person is not an act of passing off. |
| "However, I find that Topshop's sale of this T-shirt was an act of passing off." | "However, I find that Topshop's sale of this T-shirt was an act of passing off." |
| Mr Justice Birss however did not make an assessment of any liable damages in his ruling. |