Nirvana and Marc Jacobs International’s limited liability companies have resolved a lawsuit concerning the fashion brand’s use of an image that closely resembles Nirvana’s famous smiley face logo. The terms of the settlement were not revealed in court documents.
What Is The Dispute About?
In 2018, Nirvana filed a lawsuit against Marc Jacobs International after the company released a “Redux Grunge” collection that included a sweatshirt featuring a smiley face image similar to Nirvana’s iconic happy face logo. The band’s lawyers claimed in their complaint that the fashion brand’s use of Nirvana’s copyrighted image was deliberate and aimed to link the entire “Bootleg Redux Grunge” collection with Nirvana, a pioneer of the “Grunge” musical genre, to lend authenticity to the collection’s grunge association.
Nirvana’s surviving members claimed that the late lead singer Kurt Cobain designed the logo. However, in 2019, Marc Jacobs, based in New York, argued that the band’s company, Nirvana LLC, did not have enforceable rights to the logo. In 2020, Fisher sought to join the case, asserting that he created the logo while working with the band in 1991 as an art director at Geffen Records. In 2023, U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt stated that if Fisher had created the logo, it would belong to Geffen, not Fisher, but he did not determine whether Cobain or Fisher was the actual creator.
What Is The Verdict?
The parties informed the court that they had agreed to a mediator’s proposals to settle their dispute and would finalize the settlement agreements within 21 days.
Lawyers for Nirvana, Marc Jacobs, and Fisher, along with representatives for Marc Jacobs and Nirvana’s label Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), did not immediately respond to requests for comment and additional details regarding the settlement.
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