Rihanna is apparently a true bad gyal when it comes to her likeliness, and she isn’t playing around.
The pop star has lawyered up and going to court with clothing giant Topshop, and she’s bringing out the big guns. Rihanna is slapping Topshop with a $5 million lawsuit, as the store has been selling a tank top with a picture of RiRi from her “We Found Love” music video without her permission.
According to reports from Perez Hilton, Reed Smith’s legal team spent 8 months trying to negotiate an image-rights fee, “but they offered her $5,000 and said they don’t care.”
Perez Hilton got in touch with a source, who further explained the situation:
“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. 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. 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.”
Yikes! And apparently Rihanna’s team has been asking Topshop repeatedly to halt sales of the item and they refused.
Rihanna is coming for Topshop, and we have a feeling this isn’t going to be pretty. Check out the shirt causing the debate here.
SOURCE: Perez Hilton
