Article 32M1C Man who made “Pepe” wants his frog back, and he’ll use copyright to get it

Man who made “Pepe” wants his frog back, and he’ll use copyright to get it

by
Joe Mullin
from Ars Technica - All content on (#32M1C)
pepe.frog_-800x552.jpg

Enlarge / A man holds a sign of Pepe the frog, an alt-right icon, during a rally in Berkeley, California in April 2017. (credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Matt Furie created the cartoon character Pepe the Frog in 2005 as a kind of peaceful stoner animal for his comic "Boys Club." By 2008, the frog had become a meme at 4chan. In the 2016 election cycle, though, Pepe became something completely different-an ever-meme of the alt-right. The Anti-Defamation League characterizes Pepe as a hate symbol and has catalogued some of the most viciously racist and anti-semitic examples.

Now Furie wants his comic frog back. After years of letting it slide, Furie has lawyered up and sent demand letters to several alt-right personalities, including white supremacist Richard Spencer, Mike Cernovich, and the subreddit "The_Donald."

Last month, Furie took legal action against a man in Texas who created an Islamophobic version of Pepe for a children's book. That matter reached a settlement. Now, Furie's lawyers have spoken to Vice about his determination to reclaim ownership of the image and the demand letters they have sent out.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

index?i=ZDVbL2QrR1U:BwMbekOh_9E:V_sGLiPB index?i=ZDVbL2QrR1U:BwMbekOh_9E:F7zBnMyn index?d=qj6IDK7rITs index?d=yIl2AUoC8zA
External Content
Source RSS or Atom Feed
Feed Location http://feeds.arstechnica.com/arstechnica/index
Feed Title Ars Technica - All content
Feed Link https://arstechnica.com/
Reply 0 comments