Copyright Infringement case against famous rock music brand ‘Nirvana’

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Copyright Infringement case against famous rock music brand ‘Nirvana’

By Pallavi Paul

A copyright infringement suit has been filed against famous music brand ‘Nirvana’ for allegedly using the illustration from a 1949 translation of Dante’s ‘Inferno’ on its merchandise. This suit has been filed by Susan Bundy, the grand-daughter of Scott Giles, who is also the successor-in-title of all her late grandfather’s copyrighted works. The drawing of Scott-Giles which represented a map of hell for a translation of Dante’s ‘Inferno’, has been un-authorizedly used by the rock-band Nirvana since the year 1989 on various merchandise, mugs, vinyl records, t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters etc., and also sold at various stores across the world.

NEWS

By Pallavi Paul

The drawings on these above materials shows Dante’s circles of upper hell. The claim further states that Nirvana has routinely made false claims of copyright ownership by placing false copyright notices featuring the illustration in the form of ‘© [Year] Nirvana’. Countering this copyright claim, Nirvana stated that the illustrations in the drawings were in public domain in the U.S, and can be used by anyone including Nirvana and its licensees without any due authorization or compensation. The suit involves Merch Traffic as well for promoting, selling and distributing infringing products in the U.S and abroad.

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