If it wasn't happening right now, you would assume that it is the type
of topic a rapper may apply their unique brand of verbal gymnastics to... Rapper marries big bottomed reality celebrity,
couple lives lavish life, technology nerds try to capitalize off said
lavishness by developing new monetary product, rapper takes legal action against
Amazon.com.
The development team behind Coinye (the coin formerly known as
Coinye West) is living this fairy tale right now, at least the monetary product
portion. They launched Coinye West on
January 7th and shortly after contacted Kanye’s people about being involved
with the product. Kanye did not take
kindly to the new crypto currency though and had his lawyer’s send a cease and desist
letter to basically everyone. A C&D
could not be sent to the developers because they have remained anonymous so a
variety of suspected cooperating parties have been notified that they should
stop said cooperation.
The developers of Coinye have responded to the cease and desist order
from Mr. West noting that their crypto currency is is in reference to a mer-man
wearing “stunna-shades” who is unrelated to Kayne (West’s laywer’s complained
that the initial lawyer was to similar to Kanye’s appearance). To date it is difficult to trade your Coinye's. While some exchanges are currently supported, the developers have noted that they are still only in conversations with Cryptsy.
From the coinye developers…
Upon
receipt of your letter, we kindly changed our imagery so not to confuse the
general public with your clients image as we appreciate that there may have
been a point of contention.
We have
now removed any and all references to your client which we feel could mislead
someone in to believing that there is in any way a link between the two.
As you can
tell from our new community-submitted, updated materials, we make no visual or
verbal reference to Kanye West but to a half-man-half-fish hybrid who is
wearing sunglasses, again, totally separate from any resemblance to your
client.
[...]
We request
an end to the constant harassment and scare tactics.
Herein, we
require the following from your client.
1. Cease
and desist from any and all use of the mark 'Coinye' and other related words or
phrases containing 'Coinye'. Should you wish to challenge this request, We
require with immediate affect that you supply us with any Intellectual Property
proof you may own, including but not limited to, promotional material, video,
audio, PR material containing the use of the name or terminology 'Coinye' in
any capacity.
2.No
further communication through our private email addresses shall be made in an
empty [sic] to strong-arm myself and/or any other individual who operates a
website or service containing references to 'Coinye' in an attempt to halt
efforts on this open source project.[...]
I do not
see that there is a likelihood of confusion between the Trademark set forth by
your client Kanye West and those being presented by under the Meme Crypto
Currency Coinye Coins ("The Gay Fish"). The official site states, and
has always stated, that we are not affilated with Kanye West. (See the FAQ
section.) These sites are used to provide people with Coinye Coins so that they
may purchase "Fish Sticks For Their Mouth."