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[stein74]

A "meme" is defined by Merriam-Webster as "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." In this respect, they would not be copyright infringement, because ideas or behaviors are not copyrightable.

However, if you're thinking more along the lines of a specific image or other work "going viral," anything eligible for copyright protection is automatically protected by the author, and unless the author has specifically dedicated that intellectual property to the public domain, using it without permission can be copyright infringement.

Of course, the work has to be eligible for copyright protection in the first place for this to be infringement. (Nobody owns the intellectual property of misspelling "the" like "teh," for example.)

Hope this helps!