The Popcorn Stand: Even Lamont didn’t have to put up with Grumpy Cat

There’s Smelly Cat and Soft Kitty and now there’s Grumpy Cat. And if you’ve seen a photo of this cat you’ll know why she’s called Grumpy Cat. She kind of reminds me of Jack Nicholas playing The Joker in the first Batman movie when he says “wait until they get a load of me.”

I consider myself a dog person and I totally adore my two little guys Pete the Shih Tzu and Tuf Tuf (you know Sir Tuffington something or other) the Jack Russell. But I do love cats, too. But I’m becoming fond of Grumpy Cat.

Because Grumpy Cat was awarded $710,000 in a copyright infringement case. Actually her owner Tabatha Bundesen received the award. I think it’s also pretty cool Grumpy Cat’s owner’s name is Tabatha.

An eight-member jury decided in favor of Grumpy Cat Ltd. in a suit against Grenade Beverage, which makes Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino. This just gets better even though I had no idea what Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino is so I looked it up.

No Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino isn’t coffee for cats, it’s actually iced coffee and milk for humans. A father and son Nick and Paul Sandford began marketing the brand and paid Bundesen $150,000 up front for the right to use the name of Grumpy Cat, whose real name is Tartar Sauce. (I can’t make this stuff up).

But evidently Sandford and Son (I couldn’t resist, this just gets more awesome as I write it) used the term Grumpy Cat to market other things than just coffee like a Grumppuccino T-shirt and that was going too far.

This just keeps getting better. The Sandfords filed a counter suit of $12 million claiming things like a Grumpy Cat movie with Will Ferrell and Jack Black was supposed to be made.

In the end the jury sided with Grumpy Cat.

No word if after the verdict Paul Sandford told his son, Nick “You Big Dummie!”

— Charles Whisnand