The judge cites the law's statute of limitations, which requires a child pornography victim to bring a claim either 10 years after they discover the violation or injury against them, or 10 years after they turn 18. It seeks at least $150,000 in damages from each defendant, along with legal fees.īut Judge Fernando Olguin of the Central District Court in California dismissed Elden's suit with prejudice, ruling that he had waited too long to file suit. Elden says Nirvana's surviving members, Cobain's estate and others have 'leveraged the lascivious nature of his image' to market and make millions of dollars off of the famous album.īut the defendants say Elden has himself previously sought to parlay his infant fame into adult profits, playing up his 'Nirvana Baby' status by re-enacting the photo and autographing copies of the album.Įlden's lawsuit, filed in August 2021, names Cobain's estate and former bandmates, along with photographer Kirk Weddle, Universal Music, Geffen Records, Warner Records and MCA Music. A fishhook and dollar bill were later edited into the image. 'Masha's law permits victims to sue for each violation of their privacy when their childhood images remain in circulation.'Įlden, 31, was 4 months old when he was photographed underwater at the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California. 'Most child pornography is traded well into the victim's adulthood,' attorney Margaret Mabie said via email. Elden says Nirvana and its record label have profited from child pornography by selling the album that famously features him on the cover. Spencer Elden is appealing the dismissal, his lawyers told NPR, arguing that the judge in the case has misinterpreted the federal child sexual exploitation law known as Masha's law. But a lawsuit from a man who appeared as a naked baby on the band's landmark Nevermind album still isn't paying off: a federal judge has once again dismissed the lawsuit. Attorneys representing Grohl, Novoselic, Weddle, Love, Cobain, photographer Kirk Weddle, Nirvana and UMG Recordings filed a joint complaint in December arguing to dismiss the case because Elden “spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed ‘Nirvana Baby’” and added the statute of limitations on the claims expired in 2011.Teenage angst pays off well, as Nirvana's Kurt Cobain sang.

Lawyers for Elden, now 30, claimed the band “intentionally commercially marketed Spencer’s child pornography” by using the image of him as a nude infant in a swimming pool, according to the lawsuit filed in August. Nevermind was released in 1991 and the cover shows an infant Elden in a swimming pool with his genitalia exposed. If they refile by the deadline, Nirvana’s lawyers will have two weeks to respond to the new suit. If Elden’s lawyers miss the new deadline, the lawsuit remains dismissed. The judge gave lawyers for Elden a January 13 deadline to file an amended complaint. Lawyers representing Nirvana did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

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