Miramax Suing Quentin Tarantino Over His 'Pulp Fiction' NFT Auction
Say "NFT" one more time! I dare you, I double dare you.
We thought we would soon see Quentin Tarantino step into the NFTs ring with people like David Lynch, but that has now turned into a blood-soaked 1974 Chevrolet Nova-type of situation.
Early in November, Tarantino announced his plans to auction off seven uncut scenes from Pulp Fictionin exchange for NFTs to fund his upcoming projects, but Miramax has just shot the director’s plans right in the head.
Miramax filed a breach of contract and infringement lawsuit today in federal court in California, stating, “Eager to cash in on the non-fungible token (NFTs) boom, as widely reported in the media, Quentin Tarantino recently announced plans to auction off seven ‘exclusive scenes’ from the 1994 motion picture Pulp Fiction in the form of NFTs.”
The cease-and-desist letter from the company that Harvey Weinstein co-founded has Miramax looking for statutory damages and declaratory and injustice relief in a jury trial.
The 22-page complaint filed by lawyers at Proskauer Rose LLP says, “Tarantino’s conduct has forced Miramax to bring this lawsuit against a valued collaborator in order to enforce, preserve, and protect its contractual and intellectual property rights relating to one of Miramax’s most iconic and valuable film properties.”
The complaint file goes on to say that Tarantino’s auction could “mislead others into believing Miramax is involved in his venture. And it could also mislead others into believing they have the rights to pursue similar deals or offerings, when in fact Miramax holds the rights needed to develop, market, and sell NFTs relating to its deep film library.”
In their story, Deadline was unable to reach Tarantino’s reps for a comment, but Tuesday’s filing does reveal that the director’s lawyers told Miramax that they thought the director was "acting within his ‘Reserved Rights,’ specifically the right to ‘screenplay publication’ with the NFT plan."
Tarantino planned to auction off seven scanned digital copies of his handwritten original scripts with audio commentary along with some exclusive never-before-seen work from the film.
Perhaps Miramax wants to throw its hat into the NFT ring, so why not do it with one of the production company’s biggest films? The only question is, what are Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction rights?
We will keep tracking how filmmakers and production companies deal with NFTs and rights as this lawsuit continues to move forward. Let us know your thoughts on the matter in the comments below!
Source: Deadline
