Top Cat was a British cat food brand that was made by

Spillers Spillers Ltd was a British company that owned flour milling operations, operated bakeries and also sold pet food and equine feeds. History The business originated in 1829 from the establishment of a flour mill in Bridgwater, Somerset, by Joel Sp ...

. It is notable for being the cause of the renaming of the

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

'' Top Cat'' to ''Boss Cat'' in the United Kingdom in 1962, so as not to cause confusion or to suggest promotion or

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

. These concerns disappeared when the brand name was discontinued in 1999, allowing the original

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

title sequence to be used on the animated series, and any future media based on the franchise to use the name.

References

1999 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Cat food brands Top Cat {{brand-stub