Nirvana baby album cover lawsuit dismissed

A blast from the past!

You're referring to the lawsuit surrounding the iconic album cover of Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, which features a naked baby swimming towards a dollar bill on a pole.

In 2018, Spencer Elden, the baby who appeared on the album cover, sued the estate of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana's lead singer and songwriter, as well as the band's record label, Universal Music Group, and others, alleging that they had committed child pornography and sexual exploitation by using his image on the album cover without his consent.

However, in 2021, a federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Elden's claims were time-barred by the statute of limitations. The judge also found that Elden had failed to provide sufficient evidence to support his claims of emotional distress and that the album cover was not a form of child pornography.

The court's decision was based on the fact that the album was released in 1991, and Elden was 4 years old at the time. The statute of limitations for child pornography claims in California is 10 years, which would have expired in 2001. Elden's lawsuit was filed more than 20 years after the album's release, which made it too late to pursue legal action.

Elden's lawyer had argued that the lawsuit was not about the album cover itself, but about the exploitation of children in the music industry. However, the court disagreed, finding that Elden's claims were based on the specific circumstances surrounding the album cover, which was released more than 30 years ago.

The dismissal of the lawsuit has been met with mixed reactions, with some arguing that it sets a bad precedent for child exploitation cases, while others see it as a victory for free speech and artistic expression.