Photographer wins legal battle with clothing giant Next after it stole his image of a stunt bike rider and printed it on children's T-shirts Allan Potts, 55, spotted his photo in a Next store while out shopping Image had a chimp's head added by a supplier who saw the photo online Next accepted he owned image and agreed to pay him undisclosed damages Remaining T-shirts will be sold to raise money for Oxfam's work abroad A photographer has won a landmark legal battle with retail giant Next after his picture of a stunt biker was taken off the internet, adapted and printed on children's T-shirts without his permission. Father-of-three Allan Potts, 55, captured the image of rider Arran Powley at the annual Shropshire County Show in Shrewsbury in June 2010. It shows the 23-year-old in mid-air with both his hands off the handlebars and his legs to one side of the red bike. But Mr Potts admitted he was stunned when he spotted his photograph on a child's T-shirt while out shopping, with the biker's head replaced with that of a chimp. Spot the difference: Keen motorcycle photographer Allan Potts' picture, left, was stolen and printed on T-shirts by Next, right, who have settled over the matter A supplier for the high street chain had found the original picture on the internet and taken it without his permission. The extreme sports photographer launched a legal battle with Next this summer over the unauthorised use of his picture. And in a landmark victory on Friday Next accepted his ownership of the photo and agreed to pay him undisclosed damages. Offending item: Next has accepted Mr Potts' his ownership of the photo and agreed to pay him undisclosed damages after selling this T-shirt The company will now send all remaining stock of the shirt - which had appeared in its directory, online and in its 500 UK stores - to aid charity Oxfam for its overseas work. It has also emerged Next has even offered more money to buy the image - but he refused 'on principle.' Mr Potts, from Corwen in Denbighshire, mid-Wales, said: 'The original image is so easy to recognise, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that they ripped off my shot and mass produced it on a T-shirt selling for £5 to £10. It was fortunate that my original copyrighted image was so easily recognisable by FMX (freestyle motocross) followers. So I was soon alerted to the misuse of this photograph and felt it was vital to take action to stop its use as soon as possible. Donating the remaining t-shirts to Oxfam means that some good has come from this episode and will mean that it remains a much more pleasant memory for me than it otherwise could have been. Charlotte Clode, from law firm FBC Manby Bowdler who represented him, added: 'Allan was understandably worried that it could harm his reputation if it was thought he had sold this picture to the fashion chain. We therefore had to act fast to protect his reputation. In this case, Allan was able to produce a photograph which was timed and dated as evidence he owned copyright in the image. 'It was also accepted that the photograph was used without his consent when it became apparent that Next's supplier had simply found the original image online. Those factors all meant the matter could be resolved promptly by agreement. A spokesman for Next said: 'The T-shirts have been withdrawn from sale. The remaining stock is being collated in our warehouse ready to be donated to Oxfam. Dispute: Rihanna won a battle with Topshop over a T-shirt bearing the picture of her face, seen left, which she claimed is similar to one of her album covers and could mislead fans into believing the item was 'genuine' Earlier this year pop superstar Rihanna won a permanent ban on Topshop selling t-shirts using her image. Sir Philip Green's high street fashion chain were also ordered to pay her estimated legal costs of almost £1million.