That's me! Tattoo artist stunned to find photo of HIMSELF on 'satanic' H&M shirt

A tattoo artist was stunned to discover his picture on the front of a T-shirt being sold worldwide by high street chain H&M, without his knowledge.

Richard Elsby, known as Gold Frank, felt angry and cheated when he found out the white tops, bearing his image and the words ‘Black runs through my veins’, were on sale in stores all over the world.

The 36-year-old's plight drew comparisons with the recent high-profile Rihanna case, when the singer successfully sued Topshop for using her image on a T-shirt.

Richard Elsby aka Gold Frank, a tattoo artist from Leeds, whose image has been used on a t shirt without his permission

Gold Frank, of Leeds, West Yorks., said: 'I spoke to to Rihanna’s lawyers and they said I had a good case for defamation, it could seem satanic because of the quote.'

Musician Gold Frank said he had pictures taken in June, 2012, for the website for his new studio in Leeds city centre. 

They were on the website the next month, and he heard about the T-shirts appearing in H&M in August this year.

After doing a bit of searching he found out that the images had gone on sale at the retail chain in May this year.

'I had pictures taken for the studio website and quite a few images ended up being used.

Gold Frank had the photo taken for his new website and was shocked to see it on a T-shirt for sale a year later

'It was a while later that somebody told me they had seen a picture of me on a T-shirt in H&M in Manchester. I got in a car and drove over to Manchester and it was there as soon as I walked in. It was a shock.

'Initially I though it was part of a small capsule collection but then I started getting pictures from friends of them popping up all over Europe and then in the US.

'Now it has sold out worldwide, so it must have been popular.

'I haven’t pursued anything yet legally. I need to find out whether it was sold in the right way,' said Gold Frank.

The former clothes shop owner said because he his covered with tattoos he is used to people wanting to take his picture for clothing labels, but has turned them down.

Rihanna successfully sued Topshop over the T-shirt bearing the picture of her face (left), and the brand was banned from selling them

But now his face is plastered all over the high street T-shirt.

'I feel peeved and cheated especially as there are other brands I have turned down for this type of thing.

'I’ve never had an apology from anyone about this and I’ve not seen a penny from any of the sales,' said the hip-hop artist.

Gold Frank said he would like this incident to make the UK public aware that they don’t own the copyright to their own image, something he finds 'absolutely insane'

The photographer was Julian Holtom of JH Media in Mirfield, West Yorks.

He said he did take pictures of the tattoo studio for free and did not sign over copyright of his images.

Julian said: 'Under UK copyright law I can do as I wish with the images, and I own the copyright.

'I don't want to say anything else.'

Photographs of you: What the law says

Essentially the law says that whoever took the photograph owns the copyright to it and can do with it as they wish.

This applies whether it is a friend, a professional photographer or a stranger on the street.

The subject of a photograph may occasionally have moral right to limit its distribution if they don't want it published, or picture is embarrassing or sensitive in nature, but not always.

The subject with moral rights can limit publication regardless of whether it’s sensitive, but it is not guaranteed.

The only way to ensure a photo of you doesn't end up anywhere you don't approve of is to buy the copyright off the photographer... or take every picture yourself.