Topshop has been ordered by appeal judges to pay Rihanna’s $1.5 million (£1 million) legal costs resulting from the case which she won against the store over the unauthorised use of her image on a T-s
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]opshop has been ordered to pay Rihanna’s legal costs after losing a court battle over the use of her image on a T-shirt. In January, the Court of Appeal in London upheld a ban on the high street store featuring an image of the star on their T-shirts following a long legal battle with the ‘We Found Love’ hitmaker over the unauthorised use of her face on their clothing.
Rihanna had successfully sued Topshop’s parent company Arcadia for $5 million (£3.3 million) in 2013, with a court agreeing the use of her image suggested she endorsed the items.
The business had disputed paying the 26-year-old singer’s final legal bill, a reputed $1.5 million (£1 million), claiming there was “no proper basis” to reimburse her costs but appeal judges on Tuesday (03.02.15) have ruled the bill is “reasonable”.
Arcadia, which has amassed legal costs of over $530,000 (£350,000), had asked three appeal judges to overturn the legal bill order.
The image of Rihanna in question had been taken during the video shoot of her hit single ‘We Found Love’ in Belfast in 2011.
In the original case, the R&B superstar’s lawyer successfully argued her fans were given “false belief” the T-shirt emblazoned with the image would have been approved by Rihanna and the sale of the garment damaged her “goodwill” and resulted in a loss of reputation in the “fashion sphere”.
