Rock group Nirvana has launched legal action against clothing brand Marc Jacobs for ripping off their Smiley Face logo.
The Nirvana design was based on the original Smiley Face image from the 70s to became a fad. When acid house music adopted the face in the 80s Nirvana created an anti-smiley to rebel against acid house.
Nirvana’s Smiley face first fronted at the Re-Bar in Seattle on 13 September 1991. The Nirvana image was designed by Kurt Cobain. Over the years the Nirvana image became a main identifier of the band.
The Marc Jacobs company claims Marc designed their current image in 1993. “This exclusive piece from the 1993 Grunge collection was created by Marc Jacobs during his time at Perry Ellis. This bootleg smiley tee sure smells like teen spirit,” they posted at their website. (Note the last four words!)
However, the Jacobs design t-shirt has been removed from their Grunge Collection.
The Jacobs design is simply the x eyes from the Nirvana logo altered to M and J.
Nirvana had their logo trademarked. There won’t be any smiley faces at Marc Jacobs management once this one goes to court.
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