Rihanna prevails in Topshop T-Shirt row

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Rihanna prevails in Topshop T-Shirt row

A UK court has ruled that clothing chain Topshop was guilty of passing off after it sold a T-Shirt emblazoned with an unauthorised image of singer Rihanna

The BBC reports that Mr Justice Birss made it clear in his ruling that there was no such thing as a general right by a famous person to control the reproduction of their image.

"The mere sale by a trader of a T-shirt bearing an image of a famous person is not an act of passing off,” he said.

But he ruled that in this case, Topshop’s sale of the T-Shirt, complete with a photo of the singer taken without her permission and originally marketed as the "Rihanna Tank", amounted to passing off.



more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

News of EasyGroup failing in its trademark infringement claim against ‘Easihire’ and Amgen winning a key appeal at the UPC were also among the top talking points
Submit your nominations to this year's WIBL EMEA Awards by February 16 2026
Edward Russavage and Maria Crusey at Wolf Greenfield say that OpenAI MDL could broaden discovery and reshape how clients navigate AI copyright disputes
The UPC has increased some fees by as much as 32%, but firms and their clients had been getting a good deal so far
Meryl Koh, equity director and litigator at Drew & Napier in Singapore, discusses an uptick in cross-border litigation and why collaboration across practice areas is becoming crucial
The firm says new role will be at the forefront of how it delivers value and will help bridge the gap between lawyers, clients and tech
Qantm IP’s CEO and AI programme lead discuss the business’s investment and M&A plans, and reveal their tech ambitions
Controversial plans were scrapped by the Commission earlier this year after the Parliament had previously backed them
Lawyers at Spoor & Fisher provide an overview of how South Africa is navigating copyright and consent requirements to improve access to works for blind and visually impaired people
Gillian Tan explains how she balances TM portfolio management with fast-moving deals, and why ‘CCP’ is a good acronym to live by
Gift this article