A Federal Court in California has dismissed a lawsuit alleging a famous album cover is child pornography. Spencer Elden, the man who, 31 years ago, appeared as the naked baby on the cover of Nirvana’s album “Nevermind”, filed the lawsuit against the band and its record label last year. Elden claimed the cover photo constitutes “Commercial Child Sexual Exploitation”. The judge ruled the 10-year statute of limitations to file such a claim had expired.
“Nevermind” sold millions of copies and became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed albums of all time. Elden’s lawsuit confused many people, because he had posed for recreations of the photograph during his adult life. The lawsuit was initially dismissed in January after Elden missed a deadline to respond to a Motion for Dismissal by Nirvana’s lawyers, but the judge allowed Elden to file an amended version of his complaint. Elden’s lawyer pledged to appeal the latest dismissal.
