When Keyboard Cat became a thing, I tried making some t-shirts on Teespring or something of the sort. Got a cease-and-desist very quickly.<p>That's when I learned that behind the facade of cute internet cats and memes hides the cold reality of copyright law.
> In 2013 Grenade Beverage, owned by father and son Nick and Paul Sandford, struck a $150,000 deal to market iced coffee beverages with the cat's scowl on its packaging.<p>I want an article on how the cat’s owner convinced someone to license the cats image for $150K, let alone just for one line of beer. That’s insane.
For those interested in getting in on the game, you should checkout The Handbook [1], it's a must-read.<p>[1] <a href="http://liartownusa.tumblr.com/post/152912631875/breed-and-publicize-your-own-congenitally-deformed" rel="nofollow">http://liartownusa.tumblr.com/post/152912631875/breed-and-pu...</a>
The verdict seems wrong. You can't copyright a cat. Per the constitution only "works" are copywritable. So you can copyright a photo of the cat. Or in this case a sketch of a cat. But unless the owners of the cat also drew the logo they shouldn't have a copyright claim on it.
<i>Grumpy Cat Limited</i><p>I genuinely don't know if I'm impressed or incredibly depressed that the owners of a disgruntled looking cat are turning the facade of a discontented feline into a company. Snarky types would point at this and scream "LATE STAGE CAPITALISM" or some such....<p>but...it's weird, to me.
You may also be interested in the <i>Monkey Selfie</i> case: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16228390" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16228390</a>
Huh. When reading the headline, I thought "Grumpy Cat" was the name of a company, because, you know, cats do not win many law suits. That was actually what made me read the article, because I thought that "Grumpy Cat" was an odd name for a company.<p>It seem a little childish to think that the face of a cat is subject to copyright.
Grumpy cat generates and sustains jobs: photographer, the community manager, agent, advertisers, the t-shirt people, and an army of people working in the various products going from books to calendars, the movie cast... you get it.<p>It also helps people release stress, which improves their immune response.<p>Grumpy cat is a force for good.