Why Kanye Hates Coinye Currency and Promply Killed It

As you might now, the virtual currency Bitcoin is becoming more and more popular. Needless to say, its success triggered quite a few copycat cryptocurrencies trying to get a piece of the action. Virtual money talks!

A group of seven coders took a different direction – they decided to have some fun with the new hype. They created a virtual coin with the name “CoinYe West”, which they later shortened to “Coinye”. They even came up with a catchphrase: we ain’t minin’, we pickin’.

The seven coders decided that the maximum number of Coinyes that could ever be mined in the currency would be 66,666,666,666. They also had fun with the design - it featured a cartoon fish wearing West's signature shutter shades.

Kanye West was not amused. The musician is not known for his sense of humor which might explain why his facial expression often resembles that of Grumpy Cat. He promptly instructed his lawyers to take action.

Since the entity of the powers behind Coinye was unknown, West’s legal team decided to also go after 0daycoins.com (a currency exchange) and Amazon.com as the provider of web hosting services to virtual currency exchanges. The legal eagles were hoping to flush out the John Does they wanted to sue.

Kanye’s law office Pryor Cashman LLP sent out a cease and desist letter of January 6, 2014 on behalf of Grumpy Kanye. In it, they state: “Mr. West is an internationally renowned musical artist, songwriter, producer, film director and fashion designer, to name just a few of Mr. West’s endeavors.” 

The Coinye currency would take advantage of/harm his brand. They go on to point out that the logo resembles their client and that the name of the currency was “substantially similar” to Kanye’s name. They demanded that all websites and social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter) associated with Coinyes would be shut down.

The developers quickly moved their website to India and issued the following statement:

“We are just a few guys who are excited about the future of cryptocurrency and would like to see it become a more mainstream phenomenon. We would like to make it clear that we are entirely independent of the Kanye, and there should be no confusion as to the intent or origin of this project. The name "Coinye" is intended solely as parody, not an indication or implication of endorsement or involvement.”

After considering their options, the creators of Coinye decided to back down and pulled the Coinye currency. They posted on their website "Coinye is dead. You win Kanye".

RIP Coinye

(Image courtesy of Coinye)

Shia LaBeouf’s Weird Plagiarism Case

On December 17, 2014 Shia LaBeouf released his short film Howard Cantour.com. It did not take long for sharp eyes to detect the uncanny resemblance to a comic strip by famous creator Daniel Clowes.

LaBeouf took to Twitter to apologize for the mishap. Funny enough, even his mea culpa tweet seems to be plagiarized!

LaBeouf obviously does not know how to apologize. His tweet “[getting] lost in the creative process” doesn’t justify ripping off Daniel Clowes, especially considering the amount of time and work Clowes put into it.

LeBeouf also answered numerous questions about the origins of the short movie without pointing out that he adapted it from the comic strip,

Funny enough, even his apology about his plagiarism seems to be plagiarized! Andrew Hake noticed on Twitter that LaBeouf has already been caught once before in plagiarizing an apology. It seems that LaBeouf prefers trolling the Internet to find "his" apology instead of writing it himself.

According to Andrew S. Allen “We were led to believe by Shia and the filmmaking team that the story and script for HowardCantour.com was completely original,. There is a global outcry about the uncredited use of Daniel Clowes’ work. That didn’t come until it hit online. If it wasn’t for the legions of online Clowes fans, this may never have come to light.

As curators of a powerful but under-appreciated medium like short film where filmmakers spend years of work to make little or no money, the recognition you get from your work, and therefore attribution, is often all you have, so we take it seriously. Until Clowes grants permission and is credited in the work, we’ve pulled the film offline.”

Meanwhile on Twitter, users came together with the tongue-in-cheek hashtag #shialaboeuffilms to offer some suggestions for future projects LaBoeuf could create that would also be “inspired by someone else’s idea”:

Shia LaBeouf tried to close the unpleasant incident by stating that his behavior, tweets, plagiarism and public apologies were all part of his "performance art" for a project called #stopcreating. Guess what? He got the idea from Joaquin Phoenix.

Curious minds want to know - was that LaBoeuf's final act of plagiarism?

The Tale of the Two Wine Label Tulips

HEMA is a leading Dutch discount retailer selling household goods. As part of its range, it sells the South African Kleintuin wine. The label features a red tulip.

Slight problem - the label closely resembles those on the bottles of artisan winemaker and TV show host Ilja Gort.

His tulip brands his La Tulipe wine since 1997. It was painted by his then 6-year-old son.

Mr. Gort was upset when he saw HEMA's wine abel and claimed that the discount retailer was trying to cash in on his success.

His lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter; originally without success. When Mr. Gort threatened to take HEMA to court, the retailer finally responded. HEMA announced that it would pull all bottles with the disputed label.

The retailer also emphasized that it “never intended to copy the wines of Mr. Gort” and that it would redesign the labels “to avoid any confusion in the future.”

Mr. Gort would have won the court case. His La Tulipe wine has been winning international awards for years. Any confusion with the HEMA’s table wine would harm the exclusive La Tulipe brand.

Gort also uses another drawing of his then 8-year-old son. The kid's painted rose features on the label of the Tulipe de la Garde wines. In 2000, Dutch painter Jan Cremer sued Gort claiming that he was the original artist of that rose design and never got royalties. The case was dismissed by the District Court of Utrecht.


(Image courtesy of www.wijngekken.nl)

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Top Attorney Scorned – Even From Beyond The Grave

Norman Sheresky was an elite New York divorce lawyer. He was banned by partners during a nasty falling out.

The prominent New York divorce attorney died last October 19 from pneumonia. His dying wish was to ban partners from his funeral.

Sheresky’s client list included Peter Cook and the exes of James Gandolfini, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall.

His former partners David Aronson and Allan Mayefsky were informed that they were not welcome at the funeral, following a dramatic falling out with them that forced him to leave the firm in 2010. Once he was forced out, he joied with Pamela M. Sloan to establish the law firm Aronson Mayefsky and Sloan, which represented clients such as Katie Holmes.

Norman Sheresky got his revenge from the grave. He had  wife play a video titled “Norman’s Reflections on his 80th Birthday”. It showcased Sheresky being endorsed by many of his peers, including top divorce attorneys Robert S. Cohen, William Herman, Bernard Post, Raoul Felder and Jeffrey R. Cohen.

In the ultimate revenge from beyond the grave, Sheresky was able to leave his former law partners with egg on their faces – a delicious revenge fom the grave!

Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo – The Ideal Lawyers

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was apart from an amazing human being and statesman, also a great lawyer. The same applies to Oliver Reginald Tambo who passed away in 1993.

In 1952, Mandela and Tambo opened the first black law firm in South Africa. It was located in Chancellor House, a small building just across the street from the Magistrate's Court in central Johannesburg. The building was owned by Indians and one of the few places where Africans could rent offices.

At that time, Black South Africans would routinely end up in court due to the draconian Apartheid laws. Furthermore, white lawyers were too expensive and even charged Africans higher fees for criminal and civil cases than they did their white clients.

Mandela and Tambo provided legal aid to those Africans who would otherwise not be properly represented. Their legal services were similar to those of a public defender.

This makes Mandela and Tambo exceptional lawyers who stayed true to the core mission of the legal profession: providing access to justice for everyone regardless background.

Lawyers everywhere can learn from Mandela and Tambo. Dear fellow lawyers - let’s start by truly listening to our clients. Please remember -a law firm should be a place where no one will be turned away or cheated purely based on bias.

Ius est ars boni et aequi - Publius Iuventius Celsus

(Image courtesy of: “Long walk to freedom” – the autobiography of Nelson Mandela)