The cats have been the kings of the Internet for years. No one can dethrone them. But if there is one cat who is the undisputed star, it is the legendary, unmistakable, and eternally grumpy… Grumpy Cat!
Grumpy is the biggest cat on the Internet. Figuratively speaking, of course, since she suffers from feline dwarfism. She has been an icon and a phenomenon almost since the moment she was born. In her nearly six years of life, she has earned accolades such as being named the most influential cat in the world by the news channel MSNBC in 2012. In fact, her community of Instagram followers is approaching two and a half million users. She has also won the “Meme of the Year” award, presented by BuzzFeed, an Internet media company focused on viral content… Her list of awards and honors is extensive. So extensive that we can say that Grumpy is now a product in her own right, thanks to her owners —or because of them.
Grumpy has her own store, with T-shirts, photos, mugs, phone cases, and more or less anything with a surface capable of displaying the cat’s face. But, of course, Grumpy also goes from one event to another, making star appearances and rubbing shoulders with the cream of American society. Everyone wants to pose with Grumpy and pull a good pout!
Grumpy has also dabbled in advertising, which has only brought her more income and made her even more popular. And, well, judging by what happened, it has also brought her some trouble related to her image rights… Although surely it was her owners, rather than her, who were upset, since they decided to face the company in court after it exceeded its use of Grumpy’s image rights.
And they won. After two years of litigation, the American justice system ruled that the company must pay Grumpy’s owners the sum of 560,000 euros. Apparently, the coffee company and Grumpy’s owners reached an agreement allowing the cat’s image to be used to promote a new product: “the Grumpucchino.”
Regardless of whether the cappuccino put you in a very bad mood when you drank it for breakfast, the problem began when the brand decided to go a little further. It created a series of licensed products: calendars, T-shirts, and notebooks. None of this was included in the contract, so Grumpy’s ARISTOPARENTS decided to take legal action. And two years later, they managed to get justice to rule in their favor… along with what that entails: thousands and thousands of euros.
Now one might wonder what will happen to all that money. Who is it for? What will it be used for? Logically, Grumpy’s owners will be responsible for managing it, but should they be allowed to use it, considering that all that money was generated by their cat… simply for being the way she is? Has anyone ever thought about what Grumpy thinks about all this? Is the lifestyle she leads beneficial for her, given her dwarfism? Do they really treat her like an ARISTOCAT… or like a money-making machine?
It is impossible to know. So all we can do is hope that, deep down, Grumpy is happy about this favorable ruling, all the success she has achieved, and the life others have decided she should have…, even if she cannot express it and her permanently grumpy expression remains the same as it was on the first day her owners uploaded a video of her to the Internet.