On Monday, Grumpy Cat Limited was awarded nearly one million dollars in damages for Grenade Beverage LLC’s copyright and trademark infringement via unauthorized use of the “Grumpy Cat” meme. But let’s rewind to get the whole picture, here.
Grumpy Cat is a popular meme, wherein the cat Tardar Sauce looks, well, grumpy. Take a look!
After the image of Tartar Sauce was posted online in 2012, it quickly went viral. This prompted invitations for Tartar Sauce to appear on a myriad of television shows — such as Today, Good Morning America, American Idol, and The Bachelorette) — as well as front page features in The Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine. Incredibly, Tartar Sauce even starred in her own Christmas movie, broadcast on Lifetime Television Channel. No, really! Check it out:
This widespread fame prompted Tartar Sauce’s owners to form Grump Car Limited, which then acquired copyright and trademark protection in Grumpy Cat’s name, image, and likeness. By leveraging this intellectual property, Grumpy Cat Limited reaped millions of dollars in sales from officially licensed products. In 2015, Grenade contracted with Grumpy Cat Limited to leverage the company’s “Grumpy Cat” copyrights and trademarks in the sale of ice coffees branded “Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino” in exchange for royalty payments.
However, Grenade had bigger ambitions and wanted to use the Grumpy Cat meme — protected by Grumpy Cat Limited’s trademarks and copyrights — in the sale of its roasted coffee beans and tee shirts. Grenade approached the proud cat owners with plans, but was rebuked by the company. Nevertheless, Grenade continued and, without authorization, began making and selling roasted coffee beans and tee shirts featuring the meme. Grenade advertised these unauthorized products heavily on social media and, to make matters worse, failed to pay Grumpy Cat Limited any royalties on these unauthorized sales.
Grenade countersued Grumpy Cat Limited for breach of contract, for failure to uphold its end of the licensing agreement by not properly advertise the authorized iced coffee product covered by the licensing agreement. Nevertheless, the jury must have been taken with the grumpy Tartar Sauce, because it awarded Grumpy Cat Limited $701,000.00 in damages stemming from Grenade’s copyright and trademark infringement.
That’s enough to, hopefully, make Tartar Sauce enjoy the joys of life.
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