Pepe the Frog's Creator Is Sending Takedown Notices To Far-Right Sites (vice.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie has made good on his threat to "aggressively enforce his intellectual property." The artist's lawyers have taken legal action against the alt-right. They have served cease and desist orders to several alt-right personalities and websites including Richard Spencer, Mike Cernovich, and the r/the_Donald subreddit. In addition, they have issued Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown requests to Reddit and Amazon, notifying them that use of Pepe by the alt-right on their platforms is copyright infringement. The message is to the alt-right is clear -- stop using Pepe the Frog or prepare for legal consequences. Furie originally created Pepe as a non-political character for his Boy's Club comic, but Pepe later became an internet meme and during the 2016 U.S. presidential election the alt-right movement appropriated the frog in various grotesque and hateful memes.

Comments

Re: Actually you can

[that this is not und]

I would wager pretty good money that most of the far-right renditions of pepe are not digital copies but instead new artwork.

Who is providing the funding behind this legal action? Pepe was never a particularly successful commercial endeavor. The artist musst have backing from somebody with a political axe to grind.

That didn't work for Penny Arcade

[rsilvergun]

when they tried it with "American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake" and it won't work here. The thing is you can Parody Pepe the Frog all day long if you want. But that's not what you're doing. You're parodying the Anti-Fa movement _using_ Pepe.

Parody is only fair use when the thing you're using is what you're making fun of. Otherwise you're just borrowing other folks work/art/ideas because you couldn't get your point across with your own. Either try harder or come to terms with the thought that your ideas don't have a strong enough foundation to stand on their own.

Re: Actually you can

[OrangeTide]

... are not digital copies but instead new artwork.

Copyright law is based on protecting Mickey Mouse. Drawing any likeness of Mickey and trying to display it publicly can get the attention of Disney's lawyers and in most cases they'd have a very real stance with copyright laws to defend their case.

Re:Actually you can

[ravenshrike]

The relevant portion.

Thoughts on Pepe becoming the mascot for 4chan?

        Pepe offers you complete support, attention, and embraces how capable you are of birthing your own Pepe. As your God, my hope is to enhance your Pepe birthing experience by empowering you through it. Obey Pepe. Obey Me. Bow down to your leader. Worship me. Give me genital love or non-genital love. Both are wonderful.

But 4chan went crazy for Pepe, yes?

        I believe that the most important thing I can do as an artist is to protect the voices of anonymous people on the Internet and help ensure that that those voices are honored. It is my job to help 4chan have the experience that they want without judgment or criticism. In the end, I want 4chan to feel they were supported by being heard, respected, and part of the decision-making process. Instead of promoting my own agenda, it is my goal to promote 4chan. Different things work for different people. Let me support you in the way you choose to draw Pepe.

What about people profiting off of Pepe?

        I believe in supporting people’s decisions to profit off of Pepe in order to provide them with the most positive business experience possible. I strive to be an advocate for Pepe in both love and enterprise and hope to help business people to have an empowering and joyful experience while making an ocean of profits as limitless as the universe.

While he still has control over his original Pepe works the idea that he maintains control over anything else after those statements is ludicrous.

Re:That still doesn't matter

[Pfhorrest]

We don't call them Nazis just because of their repugnant political opinions, we call them Nazis because they wear swastikas, give Nazi salutes, and chant Nazi slogans. You know, like Nazis.

Re:That still doesn't matter

[AmiMoJo]

This is how they gaslight you. They claim the Kekistan flag isn't related to the Nazi swastika flag at all, but they know that it really is and use it as a signal to each other. If you point this out they accuse you of wild conspiracy theories and of calling everyone a Nazi.