Key Takeaways
- Hollywood studio Miramax has sued director Quentin Tarantino over copyrights of celebrated film Pulp Fiction
- Tarantino had announced earlier this month about his plans to release 7 NFTs from unseen scenes from the film
- With the case in the court, Trantino’s plans can be jeopardized if his legal team doesn’t put up a strong defence
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Celebrated director Quentin Tarantino’s plan to cash in on the NFT hype seems to have hit a roadblock. Hollywood studio Miramax has sued Tarantino over his plans to create and sell digital collectibles.
Earlier this month, Tarantino announced his intention to turn seven uncut and never-before-seen scenes from the 1993 film Pulp Fiction into non-fungible tokens (NFTs). According to the announcement, the director would make the said NFTs using the Secret Network platform. He also planned on auctioning them on the Ethereum blockchain. The world’s largest NFT platform, OpenSea, was to host the auction.
“I’m excited to be presenting these exclusive scenes from Pulp Fiction to fans. Secret Network and Secret NFTs provide a whole new world of connecting fans and artists and I’m thrilled to be a part of that,”
Tarantino said during the announcement.
The official website of the NFT launch also claimed that the original, handwritten screenplay of the iconic ‘Royale with Cheese’ scene by Quentin Tarantino would soon be up for sale.
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Not so fast, Mr. Tarantino. Miramax has objections
Following the media buzz created around the proposed launch of the NFTs, Miramax has decided to play party pooper. The studio house has filed a case in the Los Angeles Federal Court over copyright infringement.
In the lawsuit, Miramax alleges Tarantino essentially signed away all media rights to them back in 1993. In addition, the studio also sees ulterior motives in the director’s actions. For example, Tarantino allegedly kept them in the dark about his NFT plans.
“Tarantino’s limited “Reserved Rights” under the operative agreements are far too narrow for him to unilaterally produce, market, and sell the Pulp Fiction NFTs,”
the suit filing claims.
However, before filing the lawsuit, Miramax tried to resolve the issue by sending Tarantino a cease and desist letter. In the said letter, the media house claims to have explained to the director how his NFT plans would infringe on their rights on Pulp Fiction.
However, despite these efforts, Tarantino has decided to go ahead with the NFT launch. He has insisted that his rights to the film allowed him to launch digital collectibles independently.
In the suit filing, Miramax argued that they were left with no option but to bring a lawsuit against Tarantino (whom they refer to as valued collaborator) to clear misconceptions and prevent future infringements.
“Left unchecked, Tarantino’s conduct 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,”
the Hollywood studio house insisted.
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Tarantino’s NFT fate lies in the hands of the court
Expecting the NFT launch sometime in December, Miramax hopes to get a prohibitory injunction through the court. However, the studio house has also sued for damages, asking the court to rule in its favor and declare Tarantino’s NFT launch a violation of their rights Pulp Fiction.
Alleging that Tarantino seeks “to capitalize, unilaterally, on Miramax’s rights to Pulp Fiction,” Miramax has thrown the faith of Tarantino’s NFT set in the hands of the US Federal Court. The celebrated director’s legal team now has to make a good case for themselves. Until then, any publicity is better than no publicity.
