After the former Nevermind Nirvana baby from the band’s iconic 1991 album cover, Spencer Elden, sued Nirvana’s surviving members, Universal Music Group, the David Geffen Company, photographer Kurt Weddle, and Kurt Cobain’s widow and estate executor, Courtney Love last year, the band’s lawyers are finally motioning for the lawsuit to be dismissed. Elden’s lawyers alleged that the album cover was child pornography, but failed to respond to a motion for dismissal last month.
Nirvana’s lawyers said that because Elden has not identified any new victimization since the last lawsuit, the case should be dropped. “The time has run,” they said. Elden’s decision to not sue these defendants for the past 30 years, despite his decades-long knowledge of their same and unvaried conduct, is dispositive of his claim. It is as simple as that… For Elden, this is strike three. This case must end.”
Meanwhile, Robert Fisher, a graphic artist who worked at Geffen Records during Nirvana’s time on the label, claimed that he actually created the other iconic Nirvana album cover – the cross-eyed smiley-face design that is officially credited to Kurt Cobain. In the past, when the design had been used by others, Nirvana took legal action against them. Clothing designer Marc Jacobs used the design in 2018, and the band sued.
However, after Fisher’s lawyer released a statement accusing the band of “misattributing the illustration to Kurt Cobain,” Nirvana’s lawyers responded in a statement, “In the 30 years since the design’s creation and Nirvana’s exploitation of it, Fisher never claimed any interest in it.”
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