Nirvana and Marc Jacobs To Settle Long-Standing Copyright Dispute Over Smiley-Face Logo

Nirvana and Marc Jacobs To Settle Long-Standing Copyright Dispute Over Smiley-Face Logo

Iconic rock band Nirvana, LVMH-owned fashion label Marc Jacobs, and art Director Robert Fisher are poised to settle their long-standing dispute over Nirvana's smiley-face logo.

Documents filed at a Californian district court on July 9 indicate that the parties have agreed to mediators' proposals submitted by Magistrate Judge Steve Kim. They now have 21 days to finalize the terms of the agreement.

The legal conflict originated in 2018 when Nirvana accused Marc Jacobs of copyright infringement for unauthorized use of its smiley-face logo in the fashion house’s Bootleg Redux Grunge collection launched in November that year.

Nirvana's logo, initially licensed in 1992, features Xs for eyes and a wobbly smile with a protruding tongue. Marc Jacobs' version, part of their collection, adapted the design by placing the letters M and J as eyes under the word "heaven."

Marc Jacobs retaliated in 2019 with a countersuit, citing deficiencies in the case, including confusion over the logo's actual designer.

In their initial lawsuit, Nirvana's surviving band members claimed lead singer Kurt Cobain created the logo in 1991 and registered it for copyright in 1993, the year before his death in 1994. They asserted continuous use of the copyrighted design since 1992 to identify their music and licensed merchandise.

The legal battle took a turn in 2020 when Robert Fisher, Former Art Director at Nirvana’s record label Geffen Records, asserted he designed the logo while collaborating with the band in the 1990s.

In December 2023, Californian district judge John Kronstadt ruled that if Fisher indeed designed the logo, Geffen Records would have owned the copyright. However, he did not decide whether Cobain or Fisher retained copyright ownership.