SYDNEY WOMAN WHO SOLD A CARTOON CAT T-SHIRT TOLD TO PAY US$100,000 IN GRUMPY CAT COPYRIGHT CASE.

“Alda Curtis, who earned US$1 for the T-shirt she sold on RedBubble, had US$600 removed from her PayPal account without explanation

Alda Curtis, a 63-year-old counselling student from Sydney, set up a Redbubble store as a hobby, including selling a T-shirt featuring an unhappy cat cartoon.

After years of running the store, a single sale of that T-shirt resulted in a US$100,000 default judgment against her for infringing on the trademark of Grumpy Cat late last year. Then Curtis noticed nearly US$600 had been taken from her PayPal account.

Grumpy Cat, also known as Tardar Sauce, shot to internet fame in 2012 due to her permanently grumpy facial expressions that were caused by a permanent underbite and feline dwarfism.

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In September last year, the court ruled a default judgment in favour of Grumpy Cat Ltd. The company was awarded damages of US$100,000 per defendant.

If the payments were made in full, the company would win more than US$24m.

The sellers have also been restrained from continuing to sell the products identified, forcing the removal from the online stores.

Curtis set up a Redbubble store as a hobby while studying counselling in the northern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. She first became aware of the Grumpy Cat Ltd case against her two weeks after the default judgment in Ohio.

The problem for Curtis was one item she sold: a T-shirt of a frowning purple and yellow cat. She said the sale had been made just before the US lawsuit was launched against her. The T-shirt had sat unsold for years on her site.”

Information taken from: The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/26/sydney-woman-who-sold-a-cartoon-cat-t-shirt-told-to-pay-us100000-in-grumpy-cat-copyright-case