During the height of NFT mania last year, Quentin Tarantino introduced non-fungible tokens of his Pulp Fiction screenplay. Unfortunately, Miramax threw a wrench in Tarantino’s plans by suing him, claiming he couldn’t sell NFTs because the studio owned the rights to them.
During the months-long legal battle, the question remained the same—who owned the images of the screenplay? Miramax’s lawyers claimed they owned the “broad rights” to offer NFTs based on the scripts, but Tarantino’s legal team argued that the original deal he signed gave him the right to “publish” his screenplay and so he should be allowed to publish NFTs on the blockchain.
Well, it looks like that question might have been answered off-screen. According to Deadline, a new court filing indicates that Tarantino and Miramax will dismiss the suit, settling the matter once and for all.
“The parties have agreed to put this matter behind them and look forward to collaborating with each other on future projects, including possible NFTs,” a joint statement read. Tarantino and Miramax met last week to discuss a settlement, and TorrentFreak notes that the case seems unlikely to go to trial since they’ve reached an agreement. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed to the public, so it’s hard to know what the agreement is.
The cast of 'Pulp Fiction'Credit: Eric Robert/Sygma via Getty
This is an extremely important decision between Tarantino and Miramax because it will send a rippling effect across Hollywood. New technologies are still reshaping the film industry, and Hollywood and creatives are trying to draw lines in the sand to claim what they do have rights to.
Depending on how the case was settled, studios could potentially profit off a writer’s scripts, which the writer would no longer own the rights to. Creators wouldn’t be benefiting from their original work.
What I assume the settlement might be, based on the joint statement released, is that both the creator and studio will share the rights to the screenplay, and split a profit on the sales of NFTs that are based on that script. We might know the future of rights with emerging technologies if and when the Pulp Fiction NFTs are released.
Unfortunately, the NFT and cryptocurrency markets have fallen since the suit was filed, so the future of the Pulp Fiction NFTs is unclear.
It’s not the most satisfying conclusion to the story, but at least Tarantino and Miramax were able to find a solution. We will let you know what their agreement is once we find out the details of the settlement.
What do you think of the settlement? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Deadline
