Social Media’s Meme Celebrity Grumpy Cat Wins $710,000 Lawsuit

Since texting and chats have been invented, emotions or animated faces that show different emotions help people express themselves even through texts or posts, however, there has been another way to show your thoughts and feelings and that is by using memes. And with different memes going around all over the World Wide Web, there is one particular cat that became an instant celebrity because of looking like a grumpy old cat. Keep reading to find out more.

What’s a meme?

Before we get to know the Grumpy Cat, you must know first how exactly the cat got famous at, and that is by having its face on a meme. Oxford dictionary defined this as an idea represented by a photo or a video, most of which have texts on it, and they are often passed on to people on the internet. These internet memes are meant to be repeatable and humorous at the same time. According to expert, Richard Dawkins, memes serve as a gene for the culture. Some of the most famous memes involve photos of famous people such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Willy Wonka and more, but in 2012, Grumpy Cat took over and the world of memes exploded.

Who is this famous furball?

For millions of people in the world, she is just known as Grumpy Cat, but she is named Tardar Sauce by her owner, Tabatha Bundesen who is from Arizona, USA. Her claim to fame was having her grumpy-looking face were used as a meme back in 2012 when her owner’s brother posted a photo of her on a social media platform known as Reddit. It immediately became viral since she doesn’t exactly seem like your ordinary cat. According to her owner, Tardar Sauce was born to a calico mother and she seems to have a grumpy looking face at all time because Tardar has a form of dwarfism in cats. She was actually undersized with her hind legs but other than all that, Tabatha said that Tardar Sauce is just like any other cat.

Grumpy Cat is one of the most famous cats on the internet, which is why it wasn’t surprising when she has a few television appearances herself like on NBC’s Today, ABC’s Good Morning America and even on FOX’s American Idol. Because of this fame, she was sponsored by one of the leading cat food companies in the United States, which is Friskies. However, her fame and fortune do not stop there according to the Washington Post, Bundensen filed to a lawsuit against a beverage company known as the Grenade, for using Grumpy Cat’s face on most of their beverages.

The cat wins in court

Bundensen said that she signed a contract with the Grenade company agreeing on the endorsement of Tardar Sauce for their Grumpy Cat Cappuccino, but she said that the company didn’t just use Tardar’s image for the cappuccino, but also to their other products such as shirts, even if that is something that they didn’t not agree on. Which is why she had to take some legal actions regarding this since the company didn’t exactly share the profits and didn’t even pay her in full on the profits for the coffee.

I hope you all had a pawsitively terrible Thanksgiving. I am thankful that it is over, but I am a sucker for leftovers, especially @Friskies Gravy-licious Party Mix. What’s your favorite leftover combo? #ad

A post shared by Grumpy Cat (@realgrumpycat) on Nov 28, 2017 at 8:37am PST

The beverage company, however, filed a countersuit against Bundensen saying that Tardar Sauce didn’t exactly follow through on its part of the deal because their product didn’t get promoted on the cat’s official social media pages. The odds were definitely on Tardar’s favor because according to their lawyer, David Jonelis, the federal jury in a California favored her and her owners that made Grenade pay $710,000 for their copyright issues and trademark infringement as well as for their breach of contract. This is not the first time that Grumpy Cat brought tons of money to her owners because she actually has a company under her name since she has her own merchandise like clothing, toys, and other memorabilia.

Tardar Sauce also released her very own best-selling book and even made a TV-movie that led her having her own wax figure at Madame Tussaud’s in Hollywood, now that is something, not every human celebrity have. Who would’ve thought that a real-life cat would actually make this much money by just having a condition wherein she looks like she is having a bad day every single day even if she is making millions.