Despite disbanding in 1994 after Kurt Cobain’s death, Nirvana is being sued for ripping an image off that was designed by a British artist and using it on their merchandise. The plaintiff suing the iconic grunge band is the artist’s heir, Jocelyn Susan Bundy.
Blabbermouth reported that Bundy filed the case on April 28th, 2021, and is officially suing Nirvana LLC, Live Nation Merchandise LLC and its Merch Traffic LLC unit, along with Silva Artist Management LLC and said the band had been using her grandfather, C.W. Scott-Giles, drawing on various merchandise sold at Walmart, H&M and Hot Topic.
The art in question is a familiar circular picture that has come to be connected to the band’s name through it’s regular use, it depicts Dante’s circles of Upper Hell.
The papers state, “On or about January 20, 2021, Plaintiff discovered that Defendants NIRVANA and Live Nation Merchandise are (and have been) licensing, promoting, selling, manufacturing, and distributing vinyl records, t-shirts, sweaters, hoodies, key fobs, mugs, patches, buttons, and other merchandise items depicting an image virtually identical to the Illustration both in the U.S. and abroad.
“On or about March 11, 2021, Plaintiff discovered that, sometime after February 13, 2021, Defendant Merch Traffic also started promoting, licensing, selling, and distributing Infringing Products in the U.S. and abroad.”
It continued: “further research revealed that some of the unauthorized uses of the Illustration on NIRVANA-branded merchandise date as far back as 1989. Further research also revealed that over the years, the band NIRVANA and parties acting on its behalf have routinely made false claims of ownership of the copyright in the Illustration by placing false copyright notices on the Infringing Products in substantially this form ‘© [Year] Nirvana’.
“Finally, in documents filed in two other copyright actions before this Court, Defendant NIRVANA has implied that Kurt Cobain created the Illustration or, in the alternative, that the Illustration is in the public domain in the United States, and that, therefore, NIRVANA and its licensees are free to use it without authorization or compensation.
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“NIRVANA and some of the other Defendants have maintained this position in their responses to Plaintiff’s continuing requests to cease their wrongful conduct in the U.S. and abroad.”
The current lawsuit isn’t the only case involving Nirvana and copyright art. Nirvana is also embroiled in a legal battle with Marc Jacobs who used the famous smiley face logo that’s synonymous with the band, but Marc Jacobs claims the logo wasn’t designed by Kurt Cobain or any other member or employee of Nirvana.
“The creator of the registered T-shirt design is art director Mr. Robert Fisher, who was not an employee of Nirvana Inc., the copyright claimant listed on the registration, and who has sworn that he did not transfer his rights to anyone,” Marc Jacob’s lawyers claimed in a Yahoo report.
For more on this topic head to the Rock Observer.
Listen to ‘Smells Like Team Spirit’ by Nirvana:
