Cats have been the kings of the Internet for years. There's no dethroning them. But if there's one cat who is the undisputed star, it's the legendary, unmistakable, and eternally grumpy... Grumpy Cat!
Grumpy is the biggest cat on the Internet. Figuratively speaking, of course, as she suffers from feline dwarfism. She's been an icon and a phenomenon almost from the moment she was born. In her almost six years of life, she has garnered accolades such as being considered the most influential cat in the world by news channel MSNBC in 2012. In fact, her Instagram follower community is almost two and a half million users. She also won the "Meme of the Year" award, given by BuzzFeed, an Internet media company focused on viral content... Her list of awards and recognitions is very extensive. So much so that we can say that Grumpy is now a product in herself, 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 suitable for her face to be printed on. But, of course, Grumpy also lives from event to event, making stellar appearances and rubbing shoulders with the creme de la creme of American society. Everyone wants to pose with Grumpy and make a good pout!
Grumpy has also dabbled in advertising, which has only brought her more income and made her more popular. And well, considering all that, it has also caused her some trouble, related to her image rights... Although surely more than her, those who have been troubled are her owners, who have decided to go to court with the company that exceeded the use of Grumpy's image rights.
And they won. After two years of trial, the US justice system has 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 by which the cat's image could be used in the promotion of a new product: "the Grumpucchino."
Regardless of whether the cappuccino put you in a bad mood (or not) when you had it for breakfast, the problem came when the brand decided to go a step further. It created a series of licensed products: calendars, t-shirts, and notebooks. The contract did not include any of this, which is why Grumpy's ARISTOPARENTS decided to take legal action. And two years later, they have succeeded in getting justice to rule in their favor... and all that entails: thousands and thousands of euros.
Now one might ask what will happen to all that money. Who is it for? What will it be used for? Logically, Grumpy's owners will be in charge of managing it, but should they be able to dispose of it, considering that all that money was generated by their cat... for being the way she is? Has anyone ever thought about what Grumpy thinks of all this? Is the lifestyle she leads beneficial for her, considering her dwarfism? Do they really treat her like an ARISTOCAT... or like a money-making machine?
It's impossible to know. So all we can do is hope that, deep down, Grumpy is happy about this favorable ruling, all the success achieved, the life that others have decided she should have..., even if she can't express it and her permanent grumpy face remains the same as it was the first day her owners uploaded a video of her to the Internet.