The lawyers representing Nirvana continue to have their work cut out for them in court. After a busy 2021, which included a lawsuit over image copyright and the Nevermind album baby incident , there is now a dispute over the authorship of the band's iconic smiley face logo, used for 30 years.
According to Ultimate Classic Rock , the company that manages Nirvana's copyrights rejected the logo authorship claim made by graphic designer Robert Fisher , former art director at Geffen Records. Currently, the smiley face is credited to Kurt Cobain and belongs to Nirvana's representatives.
Legal disputes over the authorship of the band's smiley face began in 2018. At the time, Nirvana sued designer Marc Jacobs and the stores Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus for using a logo similar to the band's for Jacobs' "Redux Grunge"
Following the opening of this case, Robert Fisher entered the scene. The former art director at Geffen Records claims to be the true author of the logo and "the go-to person for almost all of the band's graphic design needs."
Although he is not currently demanding royalties, Fisher wants to be recognized as the author of the artwork, something denied by the company responsible for Nirvana's copyrights, which claims full ownership of the image and reiterates Cobain as the true author of the logo, as reported by KNX News .
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