Thursday, August 1, 2013

Rihanna Wins Case Against Topshop (Case Break Down)

Remember when Rihanna first brought suit against Topshop, an English retailer, for selling unauthorized shirts with her face on them (read full story here)? Well as of Wednesday July 31, 2013 Mr. Justice Burrs reached a decision in RiRi's favor.

For many of us, the issue was the issue. Since publicity rights is not a proper claim to bring in an English court, as it is in the U.S., we wanted to know what type claim Rihanna would bring against Topshop and how she would justify that claim.

Per Justice Colin Burrs on official record: This case is concerned with passing off and not the so called image rights claim (Douglas v Hello [2007] UKHL 21). To establish passing off three things must be proved by Rihanna. She must show that she has goodwill and reputation amongst relevant members of the public; the conduct she complained of must be shown to make a misrepresentation (deceiving the public into buying the product because they think it was authorized by her); and that misrepresentation must cause damage to her goodwill. (read the full opinion here).

Further Justice Colin Burrs names Rihanna a "Style Icon" and simply categorizes this case as a a misrepresentation to pass off her image as an authorized deal to sell merchandise.