(MENAFN) Spencer Elden, who appeared as a naked infant on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind, has lost another legal bid claiming the iconic image constitutes child pornography.

Nevermind, which featured hits such as Smells Like Teen Spirit, has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. The cover depicts four-month-old Elden swimming toward a dollar bill attached to a fishing hook.

Elden, now 34, first filed a lawsuit in 2021, arguing that his name had been “forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor.” A US District Court dismissed the case in 2022, citing the ten-year statute of limitations, but did not address the merits of his claim.

After an appeals court allowed the case to proceed, Elden filed a new lawsuit in 2022 against surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love, and photographer Kirk Weddle, seeking at least $150,000 from each defendant.

On Tuesday, US District Judge Fernando Olguin dismissed the case for the second time, ruling that no reasonable jury could deem the album cover pornographic. “Neither the pose, focal point, setting, nor overall context suggest the album cover features sexually explicit conduct,” Olguin said, describing the image more as a “family photo of a nude child bathing.”

Nirvana’s attorney Bert Deixler welcomed the ruling, stating that his clients were “freed of the stigma of false allegations.”

Elden’s legal team told Rolling Stone that they “respectfully disagree” with the decision and intend to appeal. They added: “As long as the entertainment industry prioritizes profits over childhood privacy, consent, and dignity, we will continue our pursuit for awareness and accountability.”

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