Rihanna ant for NO play play. If what Page Six reports
about her suing Topshop over using her image without consent:
Rihanna is suing British
retail giant Topshop — chaired by billionaire Sir Philip Green — for $5 million
for selling T-shirts bearing her image without her consent. A source exclusively says the superstar’s team had tried to negotiate with Topshop owners Arcadia
Group for eight months over the rights to her image, “but they offered her
$5,000 and said they don’t care.”
The source said,
“Rihanna’s management asked Topshop a number of times to stop selling her image
and were told, ‘We do what we want.’ They buy the pictures from a photographer,
but they do not pay the artist licensing fees. Unfortunately, UK law does not
protect the artist. Rihanna, 25, has hired international law firm Reed Smith to file the suit in London.
“What is most offensive
for Rihanna is that they basically told her, ‘Go to hell. We don’t care; we are
going to continue selling you.’ Topshop is now in the United States. They set
up in Manhattan and Nordstrom, but they know better than to do this in the US
because they would get in trouble,” our source continued.
“Even though the UK laws
don’t protect the artist, she has decided to move forward and sue Topshop. She
has spent almost $1 million in litigation at this point. She says it’s the
principle, and wants to make a statement about it. They are taking advantage of
artists. It is just exploitation. What they are doing is wrong.”
We’re told the case is now
in discovery. Rihanna has handed over details of her fashion deals with Armani
and River Island, a competitor to Topshop in the UK.
A Topshop source told us:
“This issue is related to a T-shirt provided to Topshop by a third-party
supplier. We are aware it is the subject of litigation. [There are] public
documents” available for inspection in the London court.
The source added, “The
amount of damages sought has not been articulated anywhere in the claimant’s
document.”
A rep for Topshop declined
to comment last night. Rihanna’s rep didn’t get back to us.
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