The Guy Who Created Pepe The Frog Is Taking Infowars To Court For Copyright Infringement

Mustafa Gatollari - Author
By

PUBLISHED Mar. 7 2018, 11:29 a.m. ET

UPDATED Jan. 18 2019, 3:40 p.m. ET

cover pepe
Source: knowyourmeme

Infowars founder Alex Jones is being sued for copyright infringement of the Pepe the Frog meme. If you've never heard of Infowars or Alex Jones, then count yourself lucky. Don't look up the website, and don't hear any of the insane stuff the site's frontman and founder has said.

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Because for the most part it's just conspiracy theory. Don't get me wrong, oftentimes, it is hilarious. Like when Alex Jones went on a rant about chemicals being put in our water supply that's turning frogs gay.

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The man also helped perpetuate the bafflingly stupid "Pizzagate" conspiracy that accused Hillary Clinton of running a child prostitution ring from the basement of a pizzeria. When some of his listeners showed up to the pizzeria to "get to the bottom of it," they quickly discovered that the eatery didn't have a basement.

You'd think that all of these wild claims should have landed Infowars in trouble, and it has. When Jones battled his ex-wife for custody of their children, his lawyer, in court, and all of the wild claims Jones made on his site were brought up, his attorney claimed that Jones was a "performance artist" and that he was acting as a character for the entertainment of his audience.

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Also, last year Chobani sued Infowars for defamation, and now, it looks like he's got another lawsuit on his hands. This time, it's from the creator of the popular Pepe the Frog meme.

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Pepe was once a harmless character taken from a comic about a frog-man who pulls his pants down all the way to pee while standing up.

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The character, along with others, was created by Matt Furie for a series of comic strips. Pepe was singled out for meme purposes, and, most recently a symbol of the surging White Nationalist, Pro-Trump movement in the United States.

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Now suing people for making memes out of your character and posting them on social media sites isn't really a battle worth pursuing. You can't really stop someone for posting a MAGA-hat wearing, MS Paint version of a laid-back frog-man you created.

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However, you can sue them for putting that likeness on a poster and selling it for profit. Which is seemingly what Infowars did, and now Furie is suing.

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People are seeing the lawsuit as a blow to the White Nationalist movement, and are happy that they're able to "Save Pepe" by reclaiming the meme.

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Wars used to be fought over salt, now, it's frog-man memes. At least you can say human beings are consistently petty.

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Still, people are excited, and tons of outlets are reporting on the lawsuit.

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Some are saying it's a sign of the times. And it's hard to disagree.

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Others are just laughing at the whole thing.

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Alex Jones' response?

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He's probably disparaging it now because he knows he'll have to discontinue the poster inventory and refrain from using the memes in any of his videos. So, by insulting it, he can pretend like he never liked it anyway to save face with his user base. Classic middle school tactics.

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For Furie, a court victory against Jones would be a sweet one after seeing his creation become a symbol of hate.

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Feels good man.

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