Grumpy Cat is taking her dissatisfaction to court.
The famous feline curmudgeon’s company, Grumpy Cat Limited, has filed a lawsuit against a beverage company, claiming that the manufacturer infringed on Grumpy Cat’s copyright and trademark for an unauthorized line of coffee.
The suit, filed in federal court in California on Friday, claims that Grumpy Cat Limited entered into a limited licensing agreement with Grenade Beverage in March for a line of iced-coffee products dubbed Grumpy Cat Grumppucino. However, the suit claims, Grenade overstepped the limited terms of the agreement to create an unauthorized Grumpy Cat-themed roasted ground coffee product, and failed to provide proper accounting for the iced-coffee products that it was authorized to create.
“Ironically, while the world-famous feline Grumpy Cat and her valuable brand are most often invoked in a tongue-and-cheek [sic] fashion, Defendants’ despicable misconduct here has actually given Grumpy Cat and her owners something to be grumpy about,” the complaint reads.
The suit claims that Grenade was repeatedly warned not to go forward with the roasted ground coffee product.
The suit also claims that Grenade is cybersquatting on the internet domain grumpycat.com, and has ignored repeated demands to transfer rights to the website.
Alleging copyright infringement, trademark infringement, cybersquatting, breach of contract and other counts, the suit wants an order barring Grenade from producing infringing products, along with unspecified damages.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.