Creator of Pepe the Frog gets trial date in case against Alex Jones
Pepe the Frog will get his day in court.
Or at least his creator will in a lawsuit against two companies run by far-right radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald in Los Angeles set a July 16, 2019, trial date for the case brought by Pepe鈥檚 creator, Matt Furie, against the Texas-based companies Infowars, LLC, and Free Speech Systems, LLC. Fitzgerald also set an April 22, 2019, deadline to complete settlement talks and referred both sides to a magistrate judge to hold discussions.
Furie sued Jones鈥� two companies聽in March, alleging copyright infringement and seeking unspecified damages. He also seeks a permanent injunction barring unauthorized use of the image by assorted factions of the racist 鈥渁lt-right.鈥�
Furie has said he sued because he鈥檚 鈥渄ismayed by Pepe鈥檚 association with white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and the alt-right,鈥� including unauthorized use of the image by President Donald Trump and his supporters, including Alex Jones.
Jones is not personally listed as a defendant, but he turns up repeatedly in the lawsuit and is described as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 leading conspiracy theorist.鈥� The lawsuit also tabs Jones as a member of 鈥渁n antigovernment far-right that blames the world鈥檚 ills on a grand global conspiracy.鈥�
His 鈥淎lex Jones Show鈥� is syndicated to over 100 radio stations nationwide, and is simulcasted on YouTube and his website, infowars.com, the suit says.
Revenue from the radio show and its companion Infowars web site 鈥� estimated at more than $7 million a year 鈥� comes from products sold through radio programming and items offered for sale, the suit says.
Among items Jones鈥� companies have previously offered for sale is a copyright-infringing poster, prominently featuring a copy of Pepe. The poster sold for $29.95, with Jones claiming sales help 鈥渟upport Infowars in the fight for free speech.鈥�
The items no longer appear to be for sale at the Infowars store. A search for 鈥淧epe鈥� on the website as well as of the merchandise available also produced no results for the cartoon frog.
In the unauthorized poster sold by Jones鈥� companies, 鈥淧epe appears alongside Jones, Trump, conservative commentator Matt Drudge, strategist Roger Stone, and other individuals associated with the Trump 2016 campaign,鈥� the suit says. Also depicted on the poster are infowars.com editor Paul Joseph Watson and Milo Yiannopoulos, former editor of Breitbart News, 鈥渂oth of whom have been associated with alt-right and nativist or white nationalist viewpoints,鈥� the suit says.
In his defense, Jones has told the court that Infowars didn鈥檛 design or produce the poster, which is protected by law.
Furie notes in the lawsuit he did not give permission for Jones, Trump or anyone associated with the alt-right to use Pepe, often depicted with large, rounded, brownish-red lips, bulging eyes, puffy eyelids and a human-shaped body. Before he was hijacked as a hate meme, the suit says, Pepe 鈥渨as a peaceful frog-dude 鈥� a kind and blissful cartoon character, who lived alongside three animal roommates.鈥�
The meme became famous in part, the suit says, because of his catchphrase, 鈥渇eels good man.鈥� By 2014, Pepe was featured prominently in internet memes.
The alt-right adopted Pepe in 2015, mixing the frog image in with depictions of hate, including white supremacist language and Nazi symbols.
Trump got in on the act during the 2016 presidential election, posting an image on Instagram labeled 鈥淭he Deplorables鈥� and featuring Pepe standing behind Trump alongside other supporters of his campaign.
Furie is an artist living in San Luis Obispo County, California, whose art includes children鈥檚 book illustrations for adults that blend child-like characters and adult situations.
YouTube photo
