Australian Woman Fined 150 Million Won
for Selling a "Grumpy Cat" T-shirt Online
An Australian woman who sold a "Grumpy Cat" T-shirt online and made a profit of just 1,000 won has been ordered to pay damages amounting to 150 million won for trademark infringement.
On the 25th (local time), the British daily The Guardian reported that Alda Curtis, a 63-year-old from Sydney, Australia, sold a T-shirt featuring a purple and yellow grumpy-looking cat illustration as a hobby on the online marketplace Redbubble. The T-shirt had not sold for years, but recently a single unit was sold for just $1 (about 1,440 won). As a result, Curtis was ordered to pay $100,000 (about 143.9 million won) in damages for infringing the "Grumpy Cat" trademark. Additionally, in February, $592.75 (about 850,000 won) was forcibly withdrawn from her PayPal account. She contacted PayPal to request a refund, but PayPal only replied, "Please contact the Grumpy Cat legal team."
Curtis is now engaged in a legal battle to overturn the ruling. The Grumpy Cat legal team reportedly proposed a settlement of $1,000 (about 1.44 million won) via email in March. Curtis said, "I never intended to infringe on the trademark," and added, "I had seen the photo of the cat, but I never imagined that this kind of act could constitute copyright infringement." She insisted, "This was a complete coincidence, and they (the Grumpy Cat side) are exploiting copyright law," and questioned, "Will no one be allowed to give ordinary names like 'happy cat' or 'grumpy cat' to cat designs anymore?"
"Grumpy Cat" is an American cat that became famous for its perpetually disgruntled expression. Due to an underbite and dwarfism, the cat always appeared displeased, but it gained millions of followers on social networking services (SNS) and inspired countless memes (meme: online viral content). Riding on this popularity, a variety of character merchandise was released. In 2014, a movie titled "Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever" was also released.
Although "Grumpy Cat" passed away in 2019 at the age of seven, its trademark continues to be strictly protected. In 2018, Grumpy Cat Limited won $750,000 (about 1.079 billion won) in damages from a U.S. coffee company that used the Grumpy Cat image without authorization for a coffee product called "Grumppuccino."
Last year, more than 200 online sellers who infringed the trademark on platforms such as Redbubble were all sued in court. The court ordered each seller to pay $100,000 in damages. If all payments are collected as ordered, Grumpy Cat Limited would receive $24 million (about 3.453 billion won).
On various online communities, posts asking for advice on how to respond after receiving a similar ruling to Curtis have continued to appear. One user lamented, "I didn't even know Grumpy Cat existed," and added, "My design didn't even mention 'Grumpy Cat,' and it didn't look like that cat at all."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
