Kanye Kills Coinye

[Karloff]

Kanye Kills Coinye

The rapper filed a lawsuit, and the Bitcoin wannabes folded. Or did they?

Alas, poor Coinye [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131223-Kanye-West-Gets-Counter-Cease-and-Desist-from-Coinye-Creators], a fellow of infinite jest, has proved vulnerable to lawsuits. The Bitcoin wannabe was hit with a 124-page suit courtesy of Kanye, whose image it had tried to usurp. That would seem to be the end for Coinye, whose website now shows just one melancholy message: you win, Kanye. Pool's closed.

The lawsuit [http://www.scribd.com/doc/199664565/Kanye-West-v-0DayCoins-and-Amazon-Coinye-Lawsuit#download] targets 0daycoins.com, coinye-exchange.com, newchg.com, "Jane Does 1 through 50," "John Does 1 through 50," "Fnu Lnu a/k/a Jonny Bravo," Dogecoin, and Amazon - Amazon because that's where the Coinye site's hosted, Dogecoin because Kanye's lawyers believe it hosts Coinye trading websites - and accuses them of "wilful trademark infringement, unfair competition, dilution, and rights of publicity violations among a score of other blatant statutory and common law violations." Kanye's particularly upset that Coinye usurped his name and likeness, and that the defendants "cowardly remained anonymous."

There's no way that anyone can look at Coinye and not think Kanye, the rapper alleges, since practically every news article about the cryptocurrency has mentioned Kanye's name, or displayed a photo of him. "With every day that passes," the lawsuit alleges, "Mr West's reputation is irreparably harmed by the continued use of the COINYE WEST, COINYE and/or COYE marks in connection with the Defendant's goods and services. Defendants have admittedly and wilfully infringed upon the KANYE WEST mark and consumers are likely to mistakenly believe that Mr. West is the source of these digital coins." Kanye seeks triple damages because of the "willful nature" of the infringing acts, as well as all profits from Coinye.

In response, the Coinye creators appear to have fled into the digital night. However it's possible the coin may revive in some other form. The originators appear to have passed their stuff - the Twitter feed, website and other digital assets - on to other Bitcoin hopefuls, some of whom seem to want to carry on the fight.

"We are trying to avoid any lawsuit," says one of the alleged not-Coinye organizers. "And we are not US-based. So they'd have to go through inter land laws."

Source: Ars Technica [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/coinye-is-dead-long-live-coinye-kanye-west-lawsuit-prompts-disarray/]


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[Evil Smurf]

No one man should have all this power!
I ain't saying she a gold digger, but she ain't messing with no coinye west

I love Kanye, he has the best attitude, he needs to do a song with Charlie Sheen. It would be called "I'm the greatest (I have a hot wife.)"

 

[Xan Krieger]

This reminds me of the chinese government saying Battlefield made them look bad, does't this gay fish hurt his own reputation enough?

 

[FalloutJack]

Ah, but if we wait, the Kanye West will soon find something else to complain about, and all is right with the world.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

I think this is the first use of Habbo Hotel that I've seen in five years...not sure how I feel about this.

In regards to the actual issue, I don't really get what Coinye was trying to prove with this one. They must've known the whole "Coinye is a half-man/half-fish hybrid" wouldn't work. This whole digital currency trend has just been one downhill event after another

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Mr. West, welcome to the internet, where anyone's image that is uploaded to it will have been altered millions of times to have anything from a cartoon fish look or several giant demon phalli surrounding it and can be plastered anywhere. You may be able to sue these guys because they were technically trying to create a profit, although the damage now may be worse than just letting them make (possibly) a little cash with your vague likeness, since groups like 4chan love this kind of news. Have fun finding out that several top hits of your name on Google will lead to pictures of valiant knights slaying a giant suggestively shaped monster with your face or some other hilarious NSFW picture.

 

[Skrimmy]

This is pretty obvious, but Kanye didn't need Coinye to hurt his image. I hope Coinye is picked back up by someone else.

 

[Longstreet]

Funny thing is, if he would have just kept his trap shut, everything would have blown over in a day or two.

Now all he does is what he claims to prevent, setting himself in a bad light.

 

[JoJo]

And we are not US-based. So they'd have to go through inter land laws.

These guys sound like they know their international law inside out. But seriously, dunno how I feel about this, it was obviously just a harmless joke and not an attempt to hijack his image for worse, still I can understand not wanting to be tied to an unrelated product who could well be embroiled in future scandal for all you know.

 

[Mahorfeus]

Okay, this was a stupid idea anyway - just like cryptocurrency in general. I don't like Kanye or anything, but if he didn't take it down, the whole thing would have just crashed and burned.

 

[Thaluikhain]

All the news about Coinye mention him, so he's right?

I shall remember this trick...

 

[Something Amyss]

Ah, but if we wait, the Kanye West will soon find something else to complain about, and all is right with the world.

And somehow, it'll involve him comparing himself to Jesus.

 

[MCerberus]

Hey look, it's the Streisand Effect.

 

[Covarr]

There's no way that anyone can look at Coinye and not think Kanye, the rapper alleges, since practically every news article about the cryptocurrency has mentioned Kanye's name, or displayed a photo of him.

Practically every news article I've seen has been about the C&D or the lawsuit. Hard to write those without bringing his name up.

P.S. Thanks