I think it was last week, I was having a late launch at Costa Coffee and reading some papers. I came across the issue between Rihanna and Topshop. First, I thought it was kind of advertising thing for Rihanna and the time I realised that Rihanna was about to sue Philip Green's Topshop for £3.5m over 'Ugly' T-shirt Photo of hers.
The reason of Rihanna`s claim is a bit funny because she says in addition to - Topshop`s use of her image without a permission- the image company have used made Rihanna look ugly. I think it is a nice picture :)
Anyway.. I do not know how things work in this kind of businesses but in UK law, the copyright of a photograph is owned by the photographer, not the person in the picture. Also, Topshop claims that it was allowed to use the image as it was taken in a public place. Ok, I think both parties have some points here.
Personally speaking, this T-shirt thing a good way of advertising for Rihanna and it must be a very profitable income for Topshop as well. Of course, Rihanna deserves a right to be asked for her image to be used.
One thing I am wondering is if the image was a beautiful one for Rihanna, what would she do about it ? Just crossed on my mind, was she going to be happy with the T-shirt or in any way, is this the advertising part of her, "heyyy I am alive and still famous" ?