Nirvana Sued for Copyright Infringement Over Dante s Inferno Illustration
Music
The legendary band fronted by the late Kurt Cobain has been slapped with a copyright infringement by C.W. Scott-Giles family over Dante s Inferno illustration. May 6, 2021
C.W. Scott-Giles illustration.
The lawsuit was filed by
Jocelyn Susan Bundy, the granddaughter of Scott-Giles and sole surviving relative and sole successor-in-title to the copyright in the works created by her late grandfather, against Nirvana LLC, Live Nation Merchandise, Merch Traffic and Silva Artist Management.
According to the suit, obtained by Rolling Stone, Bundy discovered in January (21) that the band had been using an image described as virtually identical to her grandfather s illustration of Upper Hell from a 1949 English translation of
Nirvana Sued Over Merch Design Inspired By Dante s Inferno 1063thebuzz.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 1063thebuzz.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jocelyn Susan Bundy, the granddaughter of prominent 20th-century academic
Charles-Wilfred Scott-Giles, is the one dragging them to court.
Bundy claims Nirvana has been using an image created by her grandfather without permission since 1997. The image is a map of the circles of hell, as described by 14th-century writer
Dante Alighieri in “Dante’s Inferno,” which appears on Nirvana t-shirts and other merch to this day.
In her lawsuit against Nirvana and Live Nation Merchandise, Bundy says Nirvana has in the past “implied that
Kurt Cobain created the illustration or, in the alternative, that the illustration is in the public domain in the United States.
Rolling Stone Nirvana Sued for Copyright Infringement Over Use of Dante’s ‘Inferno’ Illustration
Granddaughter of C.W. Scott-Giles claims band has been using a 1949 diagram her grandfather drew of Upper Hell since 1989
By Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images
Nirvana has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit for allegedly using a C.W. Scott-Giles illustration from a 1949 English translation of Dante’s
Inferno on merchandise sold around the world.
The suit, obtained by
Rolling Stone, was filed by Jocelyn Susan Bundy, the granddaughter of Scott-Giles, who is described in the suit as the “sole surviving relative and sole successor-in-title to the copyright in the works created by her late grandfather.” Along with Nirvana LLC, the suit names as defendants Live Nation Merchandise, Merch Traffic and Silva Artist Management.