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The lawsuit over Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover, considered child pornography, has been dismissed once again amid a long-standing legal battle.
According to court documents obtained by people on Tuesday, September 30, US District Judge Fernando Holgin dismissed a lawsuit filed by plaintiff Spencer Elden, claiming that the 1991 album cover was child pornography.
Holgin ruled there was no evidence to lead a reasonable ju-seeker to label the photographs as pornographic.
“Except for the fact that the plaintiff was naked on the cover of the album, “Nothing” is approaching the creation of an image within the scope of the Child Pornography Act,” Olgin said. He compared the images to “photos of a family bathing a naked child.”
“The judge also pointed out that Elden’s parents were present at the photo shoot and Elden has benefited financially from appearing on album covers over the years.”
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The album cover depicts Elden, now 32, who has been swimming naked for four months, towards dollar bills that he has been obsessed with fishing line.
According to court documents, Elden argued that continued use of the image “is caused and continues to cause, and suffers serious injuries, including physical, psychological, financial and reputational damage.”
Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, the widow of late singer Kurt Cobain, and album photographer Kirk Wedl, claiming that “the image is not clearly non-sexual and not child pornography.”
Elden previously sued Nirvana in August 2021, claiming that he had allegedly sexually exploited a child, seeking $150,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees, and that the photo on the album cover caused him to suffer “lifetime damages.”
“The defendant used child pornography, portrayed as an essential element of a record-breaking promotional scheme that is commonly used to attract attention for popular use in the music industry.
The case was dismissed by a California judge the following January after Elden failed to respond to an motion to dismiss the suit filed by Nirvana and the other defendants.
In September 2022, Judge Orgin declared that Nirvana had won the lawsuit on the basis that Elden was waiting too long to file. “It is uncontroversial that (Elden) did not file his complaint within 10 years of discovering the violation. The court concludes that his claim is unfair,” the judge wrote to Rolling Stone.
“Because the plaintiff had the opportunity to address the flaws in his complaints regarding the law of restrictions, the court has been persuaded that it is futile to give the plaintiff a fourth opportunity to file an amended complaint.”
Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy
On a per Reuters basis, in December 2023, the US Court of Appeals resurrected Elden’s case, overturning a lower court’s decision that Elden was too long to file a lawsuit. The reversal was based on Nirvana’s 2021 cover re-releasing when re-releasing Nevereasing.
The termination on September 30, 2025 is the last time a lawsuit claiming child pornography can be dismissed.
Nevermind, who was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album Grammy in 1992, launched Nirvana to stardom with the song “Smells like Teen Spirit” and the song “Come as You Are.”
