Artist's Granddaughter Sues Nirvana Over 'Inferno' T-shirt Design

Nirvana, specifically the band's licensing and sales entity Nirvana LLC, is currently embroiled in a lawsuit in the UK over whether it used copyrighted images for merchandise.

Nirvana LLC, alongside Live Nation Merchandise, have been selling T-shirts, hoodies and mugs with a design of "Upper Hell" from Dante's Inferno, as drawn by C.S. Scott-Giles.

Ninth Circuit Refuses to Hear Nirvana Artwork Infringement Lawsuit: ‘The United https://t.co/gzdSHbrmMl via @EditorJanes

— withguitars.com (@EditorJanes) July 6, 2023

Scott-Giles' granddaughter, Jocelyn Bundy, brought the case to a Los Angeles court, which was tossed out on the grounds that it should be taken up in the U.K., as the plaintiff is a British citizen. The case will now continue in the U.K.

"Bundy contends that the principal issue in this case is indeed the validity of her U.S. copyright interest, thus precluding U.K. jurisdiction," a Ninth Circuit court held, according to Courthouse News Service. "However, the district court correctly concluded that the validity issue here is probably secondary, as the face of Bundy's complaint suggests that she does not have an enforceable U.S. copyright interest."

In Bundy's lawsuit, she claims that not only was Nirvana using the image, but that the band's representatives "routinely made false claims of ownership of the copyright in the illustration by placing false copyright notices on the merchandise."

As bands like Nirvana and other defunct and retired-ish bands transition away from active touring and recording into "legacy act" status, which is much more centered around selling merchandise and branding, issues like this are things they need to keep in mind.

And the lessons for promotional products distributors is that you need to be absolutely certain that any design you use is legally yours to use in this instance, or someone might go after you or your client for using copyrighted or trademarked imagery.