Pepe the Frog Artist Suing InfoWars for Copyright Infringement

Hollywood Reporter ^ | MARCH 06, 2018 | Eriq Gardner

[nickcarraway]

Matt Furie says his "peaceful frog-dude" was co-opted in a poster featuring Pepe alongside InfoWars founder Alex Jones, President Donald Trump, Milo Yiannopoulos, and others.

Matt Furie says his "peaceful frog-dude" was co-opted in a poster featuring Pepe alongside InfoWars founder Alex Jones, President Donald Trump, Milo Yiannopoulos, and others. The legal campaign to take Pepe the Frog back from the alt-right is now in California federal court as artist Matt Furie has filed a copyright lawsuit against InfoWars.

Furie says he created Pepe as a "peaceful frog-dude" at the beginning of the century with the catchphrase, "Feels good man." His anthropomorphic creation then became a meme on the internet and was tweeted by Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, and Buzzfeed.

"But beginning in 2015, various fringe groups connected with the alt-right attempted to coopt Pepe by mixing images of Pepe with images of hate, including white supremacist language and symbols, Nazi symbols, and other offensive imagery," states the complaint lodged in court on Monday. "Furie has worked hard to counteract that negative image of Pepe, including collaborating with the Anti-Defamation League on the #SavePepe campaign to restore Pepe as a character representing peace, togetherness, and fun."

The lawsuit pinpoints one poster in particular as a source of copyright infringement. The poster features Pepe alongside InfoWars founder Alex Jones, President Donald Trump, Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge, Roger Stone and others with the text "MAGA," short for Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

Furie, represented by attorney Rebecca Girolamo at Wilmer Cutler, says he didn't authorize such use of Pepe. He alleges the poster is being sold by InfoWars in its online store.

Here's the full complaint.

Should InfoWars attempt to argue fair use, the case could become provocative. Copyright law isn't supposed to make value judgments. (See for example the time that Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" triggered a lawsuit.) But then again, the purpose and character of use as well as the effect of the use on the potential market are two of the four factors comprising a potential fair use.

In this case, Furie says he has licensed intellectual property rights for card games and stuffed dolls. Further exploration of the impact of political co-opting could be forthcoming. The lawsuit also notes that Donald Trump Jr. posted an image of Pepe in a modified version of a movie poster for the film "The Expendables," labeled "The Deplorables."

[Elsie]

If there is any justice at all in the world he wouldn't be able to do that because he made no effort to police the mark when all that stuff was going on.

So; there is a statute of limitations here?

[zeugma]

So; there is a statute of limitations here?

Kinda. I'm not 100% up on trademark law because it's not something that really interests me beyond the immortal nature they can take on. From what I understand it is about "reasonableness", and similar concepts which are moderately fuzzy. If you know someone is infringing on your work, you have to take 'reasonable' efforts to make them cease and desist, or work out licensing terms. I don't know how much time has to pass for any of this, but from what I recall of the history of Pepe (which really isn't that unique a character - others on the thread have pointed out examples that were very similar going back more than a century) he didn't protest other's use of 'his' character. He was certainly aware of it. He might even have encouraged it according to some.

It will be a long, messy legal battle if he wants to assert ownership and control over the character and images.

[zeugma]

Mickey Mouse isn’t a trademark.

I believe the rat is both. If I'm wrong and you have some documentation of same, I'd be glad to take a look at it. Some aspects of the rat are covered under copyright for all eternity (or until Disney can't find enough politicians to bribe to extent it), and some aspects are covered under TradeMark.

That's my understanding anyway. My knowledge of trademark law is admittedly sketchy at best.

[T-Bone Texan]

“Show me on the Kek where he fondled your Pepe”.