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. “Cobain chose the image depicting Spencer - like a sex worker - grabbing for a dollar bill that is positioned dangling from a fishhook in front of his nude body with his penis explicitly displayed,” the lawsuit says.Teenage angst pays off well, as Nirvana's Kurt Cobain sang. When the cover was shot, Nirvana was a little-known grunge band with no sense they were making a generation-defining album in Nevermind, their first major label release, whose songs included Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come as You Are and Lithium.Įlden’s father was a friend of the photographer, Kirk Weddle, who took pictures of several swimming babies in several scenarios at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena, California. “If there is a 30th anniversary re-release, he wants for the entire world not to see his genitals,” Mabie said. Mabie said despite the photo being 30 years old, the lawsuit is within the statute of limitations of federal child pornography law for several reasons, including the fact that the image is still in circulation and earning money.Įlden also wants any new versions of the album altered.

It seeks at least $150,000 from each of more than a dozen defendants, including the Kurt Cobain estate, surviving Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl and Geffen Records.Įmails seeking comment from representatives for the defendants were not immediately returned.Įlden is filing the lawsuit now because he “finally has the courage to hold these actors accountable,” one of his attorneys, Maggie Mabie, told The Associated Press Wednesday.

Nirvana nevermind cover explained