A U.S. appeals court docket on Thursday revived a lawsuit accusing the rock band Nirvana of publishing youngster pornography by utilizing {a photograph} of a unadorned four-month-old child on the quilt of its hit 1991 album “Nevermind.”
The ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a decrease court docket’s determination that Spencer Elden, the child depicted on the quilt, had waited too lengthy to convey his lawsuit in opposition to the seminal Seattle grunge band.
The court docket didn’t handle whether or not the quilt of “Nevermind” constitutes youngster pornography.
“This procedural setback does not change our view,” Nirvana legal professional Bert Deixler mentioned on Thursday. “We will defend this meritless case with vigor and expect to prevail.”
Elden’s legal professional Robert Lewis mentioned that Elden is “very pleased with the decision and looks forward to having his day in court.”
Elden, now 32, first sued the band and its label Universal Music Group in 2021, accusing them of sexually exploiting him by way of his depiction on the “Nevermind” album cowl and inflicting him persevering with private hurt.
Other defendants embrace surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, late lead singer Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love and photographer Kirk Weddle.
The lawsuit stemmed from Nirvana’s use of a photograph taken by Weddle on the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California that depicted Elden swimming bare towards a dollar invoice pierced on a fish hook.
U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin in Los Angeles mentioned final yr that Elden’s lawsuit should be dismissed as a result of he didn’t sue inside a 10-year limitations interval after studying of the quilt.
A unanimous ninth Circuit panel reversed the choice on Thursday. The appeals court docket mentioned that Elden may nonetheless sue based mostly on Nirvana’s republication of the quilt extra lately, together with in a re-released model of “Nevermind” from 2021.
© Thomson Reuters 2023.