A federal appeals court has revived the lawsuit brought on by Spencer Elden, the man who appeared naked on the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind as an infant. As Law360 reports the US 9th Circuit Court Of Appeals reversed last year’s decision by a California federal judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that Elden waited too long to file the suit based on a 10-year statute of limitations.
In a hearing that took place in October, Elden’s lawyers argued that due to the frequent reproduction of the image, every publication of it represents a new injury. On Thursday, a three-judge panel decided that their argument might bear weight.
“Now an adult, [Spencer] Elden argues that the continued use of this photo causes ongoing personal injuries,” U.S. Circuit Judge Sandra S. Ikuta wrote in the decision. “We hold that, because each republication of child pornography may constitute a new personal injury, Elden’s complaint alleging republication of the album cover within the ten years preceding his action is not barred by the statute of limitations.”
The defendants named in Elden’s lawsuit include Universal Music Group, Nirvana LLC, Geffen Records, and Courtney Love, as executor of the Kurt Cobain estate. His initial lawsuit, filed in 2021, claims that the Nevermind cover constitutes child pornography, and that neither he nor his legal guardians consented to his naked genitalia appearing on the cover. With this new ruling, Elden can now proceed with the lawsuit.
