US court revives Nirvana album cover lawsuit

On Thursday, a federal appeals court in Los Angeles revived a child sexual exploitation lawsuit brought forth by Spencer Elden, the man featured as a naked 4-month-old on Nirvana's 1991 album cover for Nevermind. 

Elden claims "permanent harm," asserting that the band and others have profited from the image depicting him underwater in a swimming pool reaching for a dollar bill on a fish hook.

The lawsuit contends that the image violated federal laws related to child sexual abuse material, despite no criminal charges ever being pursued.

Last year, a federal judge in California dismissed the lawsuit but permitted Elden to submit a revised version. However, the judge later rejected it, citing that it surpassed the 10-year statute of limitations for one of the laws invoked as a cause of action. In a reversal, a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California on Thursday sent the case back to the lower court.

The appellate panel determined that each republication of the image "may constitute a new personal injury" with a distinct deadline, referencing the image's inclusion on a 30th-anniversary reissue of Nevermind in 2021.

"The question of whether the Nevermind album cover meets the definition of child pornography is not under consideration in this appeal," the court stated, as reported by The New York Times.

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Nirvana attorney Bert Deixler referred to the ruling as a "procedural setback" in an email to The Associated Press, asserting, "We will vigorously defend this meritless case and anticipate prevailing."