Only weeks into the new year and we have already seen some topical IP disputes hit the headlines.

Rapper Kanye West has brought about a swift end to Coinye’s use of his image on its virtual currency, while Pinterest, the pin-board photo-sharing website, has lost an important EU trade mark dispute meaning it may have to rebrand.

Find out more below.

Coinye

“Coinye” or “Coinye West”, as it’s been dubbed, launched in early 2014 as a new virtual currency similar to Bitcoin.

Coinye’s creators named the currency after the rapper himself and featured a cartoon fish of his image as their logo on the coins. At the time of its launch, Coinye’s creators said, “We’re really not sure how Kanye is gonna react to this… We hope he loves it, but if he doesn’t, he really isn’t someone we want to p**s off.”

Needless to say, Kanye wasn’t happy.

After apparently receiving an initial cease and desist letter from Kanye’s lawyers, Coinye’s creators decided to launch Coinye early and the rapper had no choice but to initiate proceedings before Manhattan’s Federal Court.

The lawsuit, which made claims of trade mark infringement and unfair competition, stated, “Defendants have willfully and admittedly traded upon the goodwill and notoriety of Kanye West, one of the most famous entertainers and brand names in the world.”

Shortly after commencing proceedings, Coinye caved in and ceased its services. Posting on its website, (www.coinyeco.in) Coinye said, “Coinye is dead. You win, Kanye.”

While successful (at least for now), it’s unlikely the rapper will be trading in virtual currency anytime soon!

Read more from Pitmans on legal issues surrounding Bitcoin here .

Pinterest

In other news, the pin-board photo-sharing site Pinterest, which launched in the US in 2010, has failed in its opposition against an EU trade mark application for the term ‘Pinterest’ filed by Premium Interest, an online news aggregation service based in London.

Premium Interest applied to register its ‘Pinterest’ trade mark in January 2012. Following publication of the mark, Pinterest filed a formal opposition against its registration claiming that it had earlier unregistered rights in the term PINTEREST. In support of its opposition, Pinterest filed evidence claiming it was in existence in the UK and that the public were sufficiently aware of the PINTEREST brand before 2012.

Ruling against Pinterest, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) said, “Parts of the evidence describe Pinterest as a ‘sudden craze’, ‘a great new platform’, ‘the buzzy social service of the moment’ and ‘the next big thing’. However, even the above mentioned documents contain comments such as ‘despite launching in March 2010, Pinterest has only started making waves recently’ and ‘[Pinterest is] very American at the moment’… The documents furnished contain no indications regarding the relevant territory of the United Kingdom and the awareness of the relevant public in respect of the non-registered mark ‘Pinterest’.”

Pinterest have appealed the decision.

A spokeswoman for Pinterest has recently said, “We expect to win on appeal because the Pinterest mark was, in fact, already famous and overwhelmingly associated with our service in Europe and throughout the world when Premium Interest filed its application.” If Pinterest is unsuccessful on appeal, unless some sort of settlement can be struck with Premium Interest, it is very likely it will have to rebrand for the European market. Ouch!

This decision highlights the importance for businesses to seek registered trade mark protection for their brands in territories of interest as early as possible. This is particularly important for online digital businesses with global reach. Without strong evidence of an earlier reputation in a particular territory, trade mark rights are very much first to file.

An effective global trade mark strategy is crucial.