Rihanna has won a lawsuit over London retailer Topshop after she sued the store's parent company, Arcadia, for using her image on a T-shirt without her permission.

London's Court of Appeal banned  the store from selling the sleeveless shirts that bear her image because that was damaging her brand, Court of Appeals judge ruled.  Rihanna's success is a landmark case that could set precedent to other retailers who have been using celebrity images, albeit without their permission, to sell merchandises.

Like Us on Facebook

The singer sued Topshop in 2013 for five million dollars after Rihanna found that it used the image taken during her video shoot in 2011, which also looks like the photos when Rihanna was shooting a music video in Northern Ireland in 2011. That same image was also used in the CD sleeve of her album Talk That Talk. Rihanna's lawyers explained that using her image without her permission was deceiving her fans and consumers as a whole.

High Court Judge Justice Birss already ruled out in 2013 that using the image would cause confusions among buyers and would give them that impression that Rihanna had OK'd the printing of her face on the tees, thus inviting more people to buy her shirts.

"There was no intention by Topshop to create the appearance of an endorsement or promotion," a statement issued by Topshop said. Furthermore, Topshop said that it had no intentions to convey any "false message" to its customers.

Topshop lawyers filed a case to the Court of appeals in the hopes that the three judges would upend Judge Birss' decision, claiming that the judge had "misunderstood" the law with regards to celebrity merchandising.

TagsRihanna, rihanna wins topshot lawsuit, Topshop