Rapper Kanye West has killed Coinye altcoin

In a months-long trademark lawsuit, hip hop star Kanye West has finally defeated all the alleged people involved with the parody cryptocurrency Coinye. In January of this year, a group of bitcoin griefers decided that it was time to level their gaze at controversial hip-hop star Kanye West. The group created a Scrypt-based alt-coin named Coinye West (later just Coinye), prompting an almost immediate legal response from Kanye West’s legal team. In their lawsuit, West’s lawyers claimed that the alt-coin, taking its logo from a South Park episode where the rapper was referred to as a “gay fish,” constituted trademark infringement, unfair competition, cyber piracy and trademark dilution. Given that Coinye was never much more than dumb joke, it is a little surprising that the case actually reached a real courtroom. Earlier this week, however, it did. The case against Coinye’s creators was heard in a New York federal court, although none of the 10 named defendants, many of whom live outside the U.S., responded to the suit. This meant that West’s team won the case by default. Three of the defendants, David McEnery, Harry Wills and Richard McCord settled with West. Under the terms of the settlement they are permanently banned from operating or using any website that features the “Kanye West mark” or any imitation of it. Robbie E.C.A. Hontele, who has denied any involvement with the coin’s development, but was an admitted user of the coin, has since signed a settlement agreement. Hontele was reportedly misnamed as one of the coin’s developers in a video, thus causing his involvement.

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