Skip to main content

Grumpy Cat awarded $710K in lawsuit, but she still won’t crack a smile

We all know Grumpy Cat. The frowning feline was a social media sensation five years back, with millions of people around the world falling for its irritated facial expression that never, ever changed.

Now the star of countless memes, Grumpy Cat — real name Tardar Sauce — has just been awarded $710,000 in a copyright infringement lawsuit, and no, she’s still not smiling (though it can’t be easy trying to explain to a cat that it’s just bagged a large sum of money).

Recommended Videos

The award is the result of a long-running dispute between Grumpy Cat’s owner, Tabatha Bundesen of Morristown, Arizona, and a Los Angeles-based coffee company called Grenade Beverage.

In 2013, as Grumpy Cat’s grumpiness swept across the internet, Grenade Beverage struck a deal with Bundesen that allowed it to use the sourpuss’s likeness on a range of coffee drinks called “Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino.”

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The coffee company paid Grumpy Cat Limited a one-off fee of of $150,000 and everyone was happy (everyone except Tardar Sauce, of course).

The trouble started when Grenade Beverage was considered to have gone beyond the terms of the deal by using Grumpy Cat’s likeness on some of its other coffee products.

In response, the claws came out, as the cat’s legal team sued Grenade for copyright and trademark infringement, and also for breach of contract.

Having none of it, Grenade Beverage countersued, claiming that Grumpy Cat Limited had gone back on the terms of the deal by failing to mention its brand enough on social media and during an appearance on TV. An alleged promise of an appearance by Grumpy Cat in a movie starring Will Ferrell and Jack Black also came to nothing.

Having considered the evidence, a jury in Santa Ana, California, this week came down on the side of Grumpy Cat Limited and awarded the firm the sum of $710,000.

Grumpy Cat even made an appearance during the trial, according to Courthouse News, but wasn’t in court when the verdict was announced.

Tardar Sauce’s unusual facial expression (for a cat) is apparently the result of feline dwarfism and an underbite that causes the lower jaw to jut out.

When Grumpy Cat went viral, owner Bundesen saw an opportunity and so set up a company in 2013 to sell related merchandise. Later that year, the famous pet became the “Official Spokescat of Friskies,” and in 2014 starred in her own movie, Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever. It has a wretched 38 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which would probably elicit an even bigger scowl from Grumpy Cat if she were able to comprehend such things.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Reddit just achieved something for the first time in its 20-year history
The Reddit logo.

Reddit’s on a roll. The social media platform has just turned a profit for the first time in its 20-year history, and now boasts a record 97.2 million daily active users, marking a year-over-year increase of 47%. A few times during the quarter, the figure topped 100 million, which Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a letter to shareholders had been a “long-standing milestone” for the site.

The company, which went public in March, announced the news in its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.

Read more
Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone
TikTok splash screen on an Android phone.

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.
So, what does going dark mean?
So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Read more