In the dispute over the photo of a naked baby on the cover of the Nirvana album "Nevermind", a judge in Los Angeles has dismissed the plaintiff's claim for the time being.
The now 30-year-old man had sued the former participants in the grunge band because, in his opinion, the cover photo was child pornography.
The picture on the album shows him as a naked baby underwater, as he appears to be swimming in the direction of a dollar bill on a fishing hook.
The band's rights administrators have argued that the plaintiff benefited from his fame for decades and appeared publicly as the self-proclaimed "Nirvana Baby". They called for the lawsuit to be dismissed. Because the man did not respond to these arguments in court by December 30, Judge Fernando Olguin dismissed the lawsuit on Monday. In the reasoning, Olguin now gives the plaintiff until January 13th a final deadline for a renewed complaint.
According to the lawsuit, the man saw his genitals depicted as "lascivious" on the band's album, which has sold more than 30 million times.
He demanded a total of millions in compensation from the defendants.
The photo would have led to "extreme and permanent emotional stress" for him.
The plaintiff's chances of success were also limited by the fact that he himself had recreated the iconic motif several times with pleasure.
Most recently, he jumped into a pool for the 25th anniversary of the album in 2016 - but with swimming trunks.
The word “Nevermind” is tattooed on his chest.