A cat made famous online because of its permanent scowl has been awarded $710,000 (\u00a3500,000) in a copyright case by a California federal court.<\/p>\n
Grumpy Cat Limited sued the owners of US coffee company Grenade for exceeding an agreement over the cat’s image.<\/p>\n
The company only had rights to use the cat to sell its “Grumppuccino” iced drink, but sold other Grumpy products.<\/p>\n
The cat, real name Tardar Sauce, went viral in 2012 after photographs of her sour expression emerged online.<\/p>\n
Originally posted on the social website Reddit by the brother of the cat’s owner, Tabatha Bundesen, the image of the cat quickly spread as a meme with funny text captions.<\/p>\n
In 2013 Grenade Beverage, owned by father and son Nick and Paul Sandford, struck a $150,000 deal to market iced coffee beverages with the cat’s scowl on its packaging.<\/p>\n
But in 2015 Grumpy Cat Limited sued them for breaching that contract.<\/p>\n
A court filing claimed they had exceeded the deal by selling roasted coffee and Grumppucino T-shirts<\/a>, which Grumpy Cat said “blatantly infringed” their copyrights and trademarks.<\/p>\n The coffee chain’s owners countersued on the grounds that the cat and its owners had not held up their side of the deal.<\/p>\n A lawyer for Grenade said Grumpy Cat had failed to mention its brand enough on social media and in a television appearance<\/a>, according to court reports.<\/p>\n They also alleged that the owners had told them Tardar Sauce was set to star in a film alongside Hollywood actors Will Ferrell and Jack Black, something that did not happen.<\/p>\n But a California federal jury sided with the cat and her owners, ordering the payment of $710,000 in damages for copyright and trademark infringement, as well as a $1 nominal damage fee for breach of contract.<\/p>\n According to Courthouse News,\u00a0Grumpy Cat herself made a brief appearance during the January trial,<\/a>\u00a0but was not present for the verdict.<\/p>\n The cat’s perpetually sad and unique expression is said to be caused by feline dwarfism and an underbite – when the lower jaw extends forward.<\/p>\n The six-year-old cat now has a company in her name, and a range of merchandise – including clothing, calendars and soft toys.<\/p>\n She has travelled the world making television appearances and in 2014,\u00a0the cat even starred in her own Christmas film<\/a>.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"