Quentin Tarantino, the acclaimed film director, is being sued by Miramax, a Hollywood film producer and distributing company, due to the auction of a series of NFTs related to “Pulp Fiction,” one of the director’s most popular films. Miramax interprets the contract as separating the parts. Miramax claims that NFTs are not considered publication.
Miramax seizes Quentin Tarantino
Miramax, the Hollywood movie company, sued Quentin Tarantino, the acclaimed film director, for the upcoming auction of a series of Pulp Fiction-themed NFT’s. Tarantino announced it would auction a series of never before seen items of the film in the form of NFTs, including the famous “royale with cheese” handwritten screenplay scene. It would use a blockchain named the Secret Network to keep all NFTs confidential until it was sold.
Miramax confirms that Tarantino is entitled to all print publications of the script. However, NFTs do not belong in this. This is what the suit states.
The proposed sale of a few original script pages or scenes as an NFT is a one-time transaction, which does not constitute publication, and in any event does not fall within the intended meaning of ‘print publication’ or ‘screenplay publication.
Miramax also owns and controls the rights to any NFTs, according to the lawsuit.
Tarantino Fighting Back
Bryan Freedman, Tarantino’s attorney, challenged the validity of Miramax’s claims, stating that the director had the right to sell “NFTs of his hand-written script for Pulp Fiction and this ham-fisted attempt to prevent him from doing so will fail.” Williams also stressed that the reveal of the details of Miramax’s contract with Tarantino will tarnish the reputation of the company. Tarantino intends to challenge these accusations in court.
This case is the most high-profile to date, and involves NFTs as well as Hollywood productions. To take advantage of this NFT trend, many celebrities and artists published NFT droplets earlier in the year. In this sense, Miramax attorney Bart Williams stated that Tarantino’s announcement dilutes the value of the Pulp Fiction IP.
Williams declared:
This one-off effort devalues the NFT rights to ‘Pulp Fiction,’ which Miramax intends to maximize through a strategic, comprehensive approach.
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