Tech

‘Coinye’ is dead, long live Kanye West

“Coinye” West is cashing out.

The anonymous operators of a digital currency featuring gold cyber-coins with a cartoon image of Kayne West wearing his signature shades have apparently backed off plans to launch their “Coinyes”– only a day after the rapper slapped the coders with a trademark-infringement lawsuit in Manhattan federal court.

The Coinye digital curreny’s logoCoinyeco.in

The website for “Coinye” coins – a planned electronic currency that hoped to rival encrypted Bitcoins – had a message on Wednesday, saying “COINYE IS DEAD. You win, Kanye.”

The site’s Twitter page also seemed to confirm the message, posting “#BLAMEKAYNE Coinye devs have dispersed. New ownership, better things coming.”

The coders of the new currency – which started out as a chatroom goof — had hoped to bring their product to the Internet last week. But West’s lawyers filed legal papers Jan. 6 seeking a cease-and-desist order, threatening legal action if the unnamed coders didn’t back off their plans to launch.

The coin’s image appears to resemble an cartoon likeness of West seen on an episode of the TV show “South Park.” In one of the later versions of the coins, West appear as a fish, an apparent play on the episode.

The suit was filed after the coders ignored the request and began bragging to the media about their coins.

“We want to release this to the public before the man can try to crush it,” one of the coders said in a recent Skype interview with the Wall Street Journal. “They’ll still come after us, but that’s OK.”

The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.

West’s lawyer, Brad Rose, said “while we are encouraged that some of the websites … have been deactivated in light of the filing of the lawsuit, those that have profited from this illegal exploitation will continue to be vigorously pursued for damages.”

A federal judge is scheduled to hear testimony Thursday on the cease-and-desist order West is seeking against the coders. The hearing is likely to be one-sided since the anonymous defendants are unlikely to reveal their identities and show up.