All Falls Down: Kanye West Kills 'Coinye' Bitcoin With Lawsuit Victory

"Who Will Survive In America"? Not Coinye, the bitcoin alternative that is officially dead after Kanye West declared victory in a lawsuit against its creators for using his name and image. Documents filed this week bring an end to a lawsuit that began in the beginning of the year, shortly after plans for the Coinye cryptocurrency itself emerged.

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West's fight against the parody crypotcurrency started with a cease-and-desist letter sent in early January -- after which the cheeky Coinye creators simply added a fishtail to its logo of West's face -- and his lawyers filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit a few days later. Coinye's creators seemed to back down, tweeting that the team had "dispersed," but West's lawyers continued with the suit. A total of 84 court documents were filed over the months, and the case involved 100 John Does and a handful of named defendants. Most of those named defendants lost by default as they failed to respond to the allegations, the documents filed this week show, and three settled with West.

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--- Julianne Pepitone