Kanye West Wins Round 1 Against "Coinye" Bitcoin But The Fight May Not Be Over

(AllHipHop News) The first step in Kanye West's legal battle against the bitcoin cyrptocurrency using his likeness is over. According to Billboard, the Hip Hop superstar has successfully forced some of the creators of 'Coinye' to halt their plans of dispersing the digital money.

[ALSO READ: Kanye West Names Some Of The People Behind Coinye In Lawsuit]

West sent a cease-and-desist letter to seven anonymous coders and filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit in January. The currency was temporarily shut down. When the Coinye creators simply changed their logo, the Chicago native updated his suit to include over 100 defendants. Most of the people in the lawsuit were listed as 'John/Jane Does.'

This week a few of the named defendants lost the case by default, because they failed to respond. Named defendants Richard McCord, David McEnery and Harry Willis settled with the Yeezus rapper.

While this is a victory for West, Hypebot reports the win in U.S. District Court may not have permanently killed the Coinye phenomenon. Other brands sporting the Kanye-inspired name are still active including coinyecoin.org and coinyethecoin.com. The latter site features the tagline, 'When they tell you to cease and desist, increase and resist!'

[ALSO READ: Report: Kanye West Wants To Release Next Album As A Surprise]