Nirvana Is Hit with Copyright Lawsuit Over an Illustration Used in the 90’s
Jocelyn Susan Bundy is suing Nirvana LLC and several other companies over the t-shirt image. The suit says the t-shirt appropriates an image created by Bundy’s grandfather – C.W. Scott-Giles. The drawing appeared on prominent Nirvana merch like shirts, mugs, records, and more.
The image is a map of the circles of hell as described in Dante Alighieri’s epic, The Divine Comedy. Bundy’s lawsuit alleges that Nirvana and Live Nation have used the image without permission and even claimed copyright ownership over it.
Bundy is officially suing over the merch that was released in 1997, but the lawsuit claims the band has used the image illegally since 1989. “In documents filed in two other copyright actions before this Court, Defendant Nirvana has implied that Kurt Cobain created the Illustration or, in the alternative, that the Illustration is in the public domain in the United States,” the lawsuit reads.
