Pepe The Frog creator sues InfoWars for breach of copyright
Pepe The Frog's creator is suing US right-wing media platform InfoWars for copyright infringement.
Illustrator Matt Furie is bidding to reclaim his amphibian character after it was co-opted online as a popular meme associated with white supremacy and neo-Nazi values by members of the so-called alt-right.
The lawsuit, filed with a federal court in California, seeks damages from the Alex Jones-fronted brand over a poster featuring the allegedly unauthorised image of Pepe alongside Jones, Donald Trump and a number of other prominent anti-establishment right-wing figures, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge and Roger Stone.
The poster's slogan reads "MAGA", an acronym standing for President Trump's 2016 campaign slogan "Make America Great Again."
Furie's lawyers allege InfoWars used the character's likeness without prior authorisation and made the poster available for purchase in its online store without permission.
Originally conceived as a "peaceful frog-dude" in 2005, Furie's cartoon was first drawn on Microsoft Paint and appeared in an early online comic called Boy's Club, popularised on MySpace.
His hedonistic catchphrase "feels good man" became an in-joke on forums and Pepe's popularity spread via 4chan and Tumblr, going viral when it was shared by the likes of Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj.
Donald Trump retweeting an image of himself as Pepe in October 2015 saw it drawn into the mainstream political spotlight for the first time, a process accelerated when Pepe was Photoshopped into a spoof movie poster for "The Deplorables", based on The Expendables action franchise and riffing on a phrase Hillary Clinton used to critique the Trump team.
Pepe has since been spread across the web among alt-right commentators and was worn as a lapel badge by white supremacist Richard Spencer at Trump's presidential inauguration last January.
Spencer was about to explain its significance to a reporter that day when he was punched in the face on-camera by a passing activist.
