The press has recently widely reported that Americal Apparel paid Woody Allen $5m in an out-of-court settlement, following its depiction of him on billboard advertisements as a Hassidic Jew with a strapline of “the holy rebbe” in Yiddish.

Whilst it is often tempting to use provocative images and text to make a product stand out, sometimes that strategy can backfire. Here in the UK, French Connection and Benetton suffered some backlash over their use of controversial material.

Do you run the risk of a similar (albeit less high profile) claim? Before considering the use of a celebrities’ image it is worth seeking a legal opinion. If anything, the law in the UK is more complicated than in the US, since the UK does not recognise “image rights” as a standalone right. Instead rules relating to copyright, trademarks, passing off, data protection, defamation, privacy, human rights and even unfair competition laws are brought together to regulate this area.