After several years, and some unexpected twists, Nirvana and Marc Jacobs have settled a copyright dispute over the band's smiley face logo, which has also raised questions about the origin of the famous symbol.
Nirvana first filed the lawsuit in December 2018, accusing Marc Jacobs of copyright and trademark infringement over a T-shirt they said infringed upon the band's signature design of the happy face — with gaping eyes, crazy grin and tongue sticking out . The Marc Jacobs shirt (which was part of the fashion label's 'Bootleg Redux Grunge' collection) had M and J for eyes, instead of X, and the word 'Nirvana' was replaced by 'Heaven', with a typographic face roughly similar to that long used by Nirvana.
In Nirvana tradition, late frontman Kurt Cobain created the smiley face logo, but Marc Jacobs eventually filed a countersuit challenging that claim. Their suit noted that surviving members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic previously testified in depositions that they did not know who made the smiley face.
And soon an alternative artist, former Geffen Records art director Robert Fisher, entered the fray, claiming to have come up with the logo. “For 30 years, Nirvana has profited enormously from Mr. Fisher's works through the sale of a wide range of products,” Fisher's lawyers previously wrote (via Advertising sign). “With the help of a team of lawyers and managers, Nirvana was able to do this without any compensation to Mr. Fisher, falsely claiming authorship and ownership.”
In a joint court filing yesterday, July 9, all three parties confirmed they had agreed to a settlement. No details were provided, with the filing saying only that everyone had agreed to a “Mediators' Motion” submitted by a judge, Steve Kim. The parties are currently in the process of drafting an appropriate settlement agreement, which will be completed in the next three weeks.
Attorneys for Nirvana, Marc Jacobs and Fisher did not immediately return calls Rolling rockrequests for comment.
It's unclear whether the settlement will make any specific statement about the origin of the smiley face logo — and, if it does, whether that information will be made public. After Fisher entered the case, Nirvana's lawyers rejected his claim of authorship and insisted that Cobain designed the logo. They also argued that, even if Fisher He made designed the logo, it was while he was an employee of Geffen, meaning the label would retain the rights to the design.
That argument won the approval of the judge overseeing the case in a ruling last December. Fisher had planned to appeal, but the judge said at the time that he would have to wait until the original lawsuit by Nirvana and Marc Jacobs was heard.
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