Nirvana’s messy legal battle with fashion house and retailer Marc Jacobs has finally ended with both parties agreeing to settle for as-yet-undisclosed terms in a California court.

The decision follows a lengthy legal battle initiated by the surviving members of the iconic rock band in 2018 after the Louis Vuitton-owned brand ripped off Nirvana’s famous smiley face logo for a t-shirt design.

The band accused Marc Jacobs of selling clothes featuring a “virtually identical” design which was “obviously similar to, and an intentional copy of” the logo.

When placed side-by-side, the copyright violation is clear to see, with just two minor differences between the designs. The Marc Jacobs version uses the letters ‘M’ and ‘J’ instead of the face’s usual ‘x’ eyes and reads ‘Heaven’ instead of ‘Nirvana’ (which means heaven).

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Bringing the case against Marc Jacobs, Nirvana described the copycat design as “oppressive, fraudulent, and malicious”.  The band also said it caused “irreparable injuries” and “threaten[s] to dilute the value of Nirvana’s licenses with its licensees for clothing products”.

Initially, Marc Jacobs tried to argue the designs weren’t similar enough, before changing tack and attacking the band on the technicality that it was unclear who owned the original copyright.

The case became more complex when original logo designer Robert Fisher joined the trial in 2020.

He said he had first designed the smiley face for a band t-shirt in 1991, when he worked as an art director at the band’s label Geffen Records. Nirvana went on to register the copyright in 1993.

All three parties involved have now reached an agreement. While the terms of the settlement have not yet been made public, a detailed agreement is in the process of being drafted and is expected to be agreed by the end of July.