Rihanna is suing clothing brand, Topshop, for $5 million. The superstar singer is taking legal action after the British retailer used her image on a graphic T-shirt unlawfully.
The clothing in question features a full colored image of RiRi right smack at the middle, highlighted by the singer's big curls.
According to the singer's camp, the image was not approved by anyone from their side. Page Six also reported that the singer hasn't received any royalties from the sales of the item sold in the UK.
The New York Post reported that over the past year, Rihanna's team has been negotiating with the clothing brand over the issue. However, Topshop has been dismissive of the singer's plead. Throughout the course of the talks, the brand only offered $5,000 to keep the singer away. This pushed Rihaanna's camp to file a legal case against the brand.
Amidst the case, though, Topshop has been standing its ground. According to Yahoo! Shine, the brand defends that the use of the image on the shirts fall under a "copyright loophole" in the UK.
"Rihanna's management asked Topshop a number of times to stop selling her image and were told, 'We do what we want,'" a source shares to New York Post's Page Six. "They buy the pictures from a photographer, but they do not pay the artist licensing fees. Unfortunately, UK law does not protect the artist."
Furthermore, according to the source, Rihanna's camp has been greatly offended by Topshop's attitude towards the matter. Disregarding their motions to settle, the singer was forced to file a case.
"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,'" the source continued, as reported by Page Six. "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."
So far, a Topshop source has confirmed that the graphic T-shirts are currently under legal process.
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