This is a story of the age, a story of a character that became a
global sensation thanks to the internet. The story is also about
the creator of that character, who had the foresight to understand
that the character might well become a valuable marketing property
and took steps to legally protect the character (its name and
image) through IP law, particularly trade mark and copyright law,
thus creating "the IP rights" and making the creator
"the IP owner".
The character in this story is Grumpy Cat. The genesis of Grumpy
Cat is about as simple as it gets. Apparently, the brother of the
owner of a particularly miserable looking cat took a photo of the
animal and posted it on the internet, where it went viral. A gap
was spotted. Trade mark and copyright registrations were secured
(although in most countries, copyright is a right that exists
without any formality, in some countries like the USA, copyright
can be registered). Licence deals were signed and revenue
