Kanye West is attempting to put the kibosh on Coinye digital currency

Apparently Kanye West isn’t big on the idea of digital bling…

Lawyers for West have filed cease-and-desist papers against the developers of Coinye West, a digital currency that bears his likeness and used to essentially use his name.

After the news about Coinye West -- which was designed to be a more accessible version of Bitcoin -- went viral last week, West’s lawyer, Brad Rose, filed paperwork claiming trademark infringement.

“Given Mr. West’s wide-ranging entrepreneurial accomplishments, consumers are likely to mistakenly believe that Mr. West is the source of your services,” Rose wrote in the paperwork.

In order to keep the currency available to consumers, the developers changed the name to simply “Coinye” and shifted their website to a domain name registered in India.

“We want to release this to the public before the man can try to crush it,” one of the coders said on Monday night. “They’ll still come after us, but that’s OK.”

The seven developers of the currency have not revealed their names or their location.

If the developers don’t adhere to the cease-and-desist order, Rose threatened to “notify the cryptocurrency community at large of your infringing actions and pursue all legal remedies against any business that accepts the purported COINYE WEST currency.”

It appears the developers are a little perturbed with the order as they have now changed the logo to reference a South Park episode in which West was mocked for his inability to get a joke about fish sticks.

Here’s what their site says:

“WE AIN'T MININ', WE PICKIN'. -- DROPPING JANUARY 7 2014. 7 PM *PST*. No screwed up fake "fair" launches, shyster devs, muted channels, and [expletive] up wallets. We will be releasing password protected, encrypted archives containing the binaries and source for the wallet and daemon BEFORE LAUNCH, with the passwords to be released at the specified time. We will work with multiple pools to orchestrate a PROPER and FAIR release. We are being attacked with fishsticks and must launch sooner. Jan 7th.”

[Wall Street Journal] [Coinyeco]