“Who Gon Stop Me”—Kanye West finally crushes cryptocurrency Coinye

In a months-long trademark lawsuit, hip hop star Kanye West has finally defeated all the alleged people involved with the parody cryptocurrency Coinye.

Further Reading

Rapper's lawyers are finalizing settlements with at least two other defendants.

In January 2014, an unknown online group trumpeted the launch of 'Coinye West' with a simple message: 'We takin' shots at Bitcoin.' Within days, West filed suit and Coinye appeared to collapse before really going anywhere.

Documents filed this week at a New York federal courthouse show that 10 of the named defendants lost by default, meaning that they never responded to the case. The only remaining step in the case is for the court to order a final judgment in favor of West.

Additionally, three more defendants, David McEnery, Harry Wills and Richard McCord, settled with West. In exchange for the lawsuit being dropped, they are permanently banned from operating or using any website 'that uses the KANYE WEST mark, COINYE WEST mark, COINYE mark, COYE mark, or any colorable imitation of the marks KANYE WEST or KANYE,' among other restrictions.

Further Reading

Despite 'Coinye is dead' declaration, believers try to rebuild: 'We don't care.'

Attorneys representing West did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Robbie E.C.A. Hontele, of the Netherlands, was initially the only defendant to challenge the case. He has since signed a related confidential settlement with West, and the terms were not made public. West also dropped his lawsuit against Hontele.

'I'm not really supposed to talk about it, but I guess it's a great way to end a silly suit,' Hontele told Ars. 'I'm happy to see the blockchain is not mentioned in the verdict and that the settlement has been made without any admission of wrongdoing. I will be celebrating tonight.'

Maureen Pettibone Ryan, McCord's lawyer, said in a statement sent to Ars that her client's actions 'were not unlawful and did not infringe Mr. West's trademarks.' McCord claims that all he did was purchase several Coinye-themed domains and posted the Dogecoin shiba inu on each one.

'Mr. McCord was not involved in the creation of the Coinye cryptocurrency and is in fact a critic of it,' she wrote.

McCord said in the same statement that he maintains no ill will against anyone involved in the case. 'It was unfortunate that a parody turned into such an expensive endeavor (for everyone), but it's been a wild ride and I think a lot of people can learn from our case,' he said.