AKIPRESS.COM - A cat made famous online because of its permanent scowl has been awarded $710,000 (£500,000) in a copyright case by a California federal court, BBC reported.

Grumpy Cat Limited sued the owners of US coffee company Grenade for exceeding an agreement over the cat's image.

The company only had rights to use the cat to sell its "Grumppuccino" iced drink, but sold other Grumpy products.

The cat, real name Tardar Sauce, went viral in 2012 after photographs of her sour expression emerged online.

Originally posted on the social website Reddit by the brother of the cat's owner, Tabatha Bundesen, the image of the cat quickly spread as a meme with funny text captions.

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.