14 DAY TRIAL // The owners of Grumpy Cat, without a doubt the Internet's best-known cat, have decided to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against a company named Grenade Beverage.
The company in question already had an agreement with the owners of Grumpy Cat, signed in May 2013, which allowed it to sell iced coffee beverages under the name of "Grumppuccino."
The lawsuit, filed on December 11, 2015, claims that Grenade illegally expanded the initial agreement to sell products under the Grumpy Cat brand, a registered trademark, and was preparing a new line of roasted coffee ground beans.
According to legal documents, the Grumpy Cat owners claim that a separate agreement is needed for this new line of products, and asked a judge to stop the company from selling its products, which the judge did.
A hidden battle over the grumpycat.com domain name
Additionally, the cat's owners are also filing another complaint against the defendant, for registering the grumpycat.com domain name in bad faith, asking the judge to transfer ownership to them.
The grumpycat.com domain name was used to advertise the iced coffee beverages in the past and was also the place where the company was teasing the new line of coffee beans products.
Grumpy Cat's owners had tried several times in the past to get ownership of the domain name but failed. Grumpy Cat's official domain, at this moment, is grumpycats.com.
The defendant also owns drinkgrumpycat.com, which the cat's owner did not ask a transfer of ownership of, but also said that it is used to sell unauthorized Grumppuccino t-shirts, again against its original agreement.
Since the two lawsuits are grouped together and, at first sight, there seems to be a legal infringement of copyrights, Grumpy Cat's owners may have a chance of finally proving bad faith and get their hands on the grumpycat.com domain.
Grumpy Cat's owners are asking for a jury trial and are also asking for the right "to conduct a full and accurate accounting of Defendants’ relevant books and records in order to determine the full sum owed" as damages.
Our Panama Don Pepe light roast is grown on the slopes of the Barú Volcano in the humid forest of Panama. How cool is that?! š šŗ Available on drinkgrumpycat.com! Link in profile āļø#grumpycatcoffee #itsawfullygood A photo posted by Grumpy Cat Coffee (@drinkgrumpycat) on Dec 11, 2015 at 11:49am PST