Maybe a la BHA (Butt-Head Astronomer), they'll coin...
"DamnYe"?
Oh, wait... My post might encourage a take-down notice... Better screen shot it before that happens!
The short and turbulent life of Coinye, the digital cryptocurrency named after rapper Kanye West, has come to an end. The virtual currency, which launched earlier this month under the name Coinye West, has closed up shop, apparently as a result of legal pressure from the vainglorious rapper. "We're really not sure how Kanye …
It's a joke, not even one that disparages the man, just a silly pun on his name. Then driving the developers to make the Gay Fish coin which is a repeat of somebody else's more personal dig at his humourlessness. Then going full Streisand.
I'm glad I'm not Kanye West, it must be a miserable experience.
ONe of the local music/gossip stations here in the SF area incessantly runs a digital IV stream of gossip on him daily. It is nauseating, as IF there is nothing else in the world going on. But, I don't control the selection of stations tuned, and just finish my task trying to tune the station out. Another one of those stations.... Sigh
Probably his legal team informed him about it and told him he needed to oppose it, and as he pays them to know best about his legal affairs, he did.
It might be a bit of fun, on the other hand they are using his brand to get recognition. He worked to create that brand as something valuable, why should someone else cash in on it?
Interesting concept that he claims that his name is a trademark in the digital currency 'market'. Has he registered it as such?
Not to mention, the entire thing is covered by fair use provision as it is a parody.
But then, in reality comes down to money. Who has more? The creators of the currency or Kanye West?
There is a concept of fair use within trademark law also, not just copyright. Plenty of case law (basically, based on the concept of Free Speech as protected by the First Amendment).
Parody of a likeness is irrelevant - you don't have rights to your likeness in that manner. Otherwise shows like South Park couldn't parody Kanye, and people wouldn't be able to take photos of people in public and put them in newspapers.
Trademark law is there to protect commercial interests. The plaintiff would have to prove that the use of the name and likeness were such that a reasonable person would believe that Kanye West was invovled in the digital currency.
Under US law if you don't actively protect your trademark you can lose the right to enforce it, just as if your neighbour maintains a piece of your property that you neglect, you can lose it under "adverse possession". Hence all the "cruel" lawsuits against nursery schools with Disney characters painted on the walls etc. It's just how the law has to work.
its his trademark, his way of making money.
Why should he allow scotes to ride on the back of his business to make their money?
I doubt they were going to give him anything for using it.
Forgot what you think of him personally, it makes no difference whose image or name they were going to use.
Hell, why not imagine they were going to use an image of the Queen and put her name on the currency, how does the story look now?
Ignoring the rapper person
How seriously can you take a currency that is being created by people who would name it after a person or are childish enough to then follow on with jokes and cartoon fish?
Cash is serious business, and who the hell would risk using a currency being "run/developed" by idiots?
So, they set up a virtual currency which they knew would get shut down, make a stack of coins, get mass publicity (raising the value?) then sell up at a high before shutting down, how much $$$ did they make before the shutdown? General interest, above is just a theory and in no way alludes that this actually occurred.