A U.S. management and accounting firm has filed a nearly $1 million US lawsuit against rocker Courtney Love over profits from her partial sale of grunge pioneers Nirvana's publishing catalogue.

Love, the widow of Nirvana singer, songwriter and guitarist Kurt Cobain, sold a 25 per cent stake of the Nirvana song catalogue to New York music publishing company Primary Wave in 2006 for $19.5 million US.

London & Co., which filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, alleges that Love hired the company to provide her with management services but failed to pay an agreed-upon rate of five per cent of her earnings.

The Los Angeles-based company is asking for $975,000 US as well as other legal costs.

Love, who has dabbled in acting and previously fronted the rock band Hole, was the executor of her late husband's estate.

She controlled the majority of the copyright to Cobain's intellectual property after his suicide in 1994 and has, in the past, been at odds with the surviving members of Nirvana, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, as well as the band's record label, Universal.

With files from the Associated Press