Quentin Tarantino Faces Lawsuit From Miramax Over His Plans to Sell 'Pulp Fiction' NFTs
Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino is facing a lawsuit from studio Miramax after the entertainment company sued him on Tuesday over his plans of selling digital collectibles based on his 1994 film "Pulp Fiction."
Miramax, the company that produced the film, claimed that Tarantino planned to sell a series of unique non-fungible tokens or NFTs based on the movie, including scenes from an early script cut from the final version.
Miramax Files Lawsuit to Halt Quentin Tarantino's Plan of Selling NFTs of 'Pulp Fiction'
A website announcing the NFT sale noted that they would include a digital version of the film's iconic "Royal with Cheese" scene and a recording of Quentin Tarantino revealing secrets of the project.
According to NBC News, Miramax filed the suit in federal court in Los Angeles, accusing the director of violating the firm's copyright and trademark, and it's demanding a halt to the upcoming sale.
Miramax, which Bein Media Group and ViacomCBS own, added that Tarantino also plans to sell NFTs of page scans and digital film props. The lawsuit said that NFTs do not fall under Tarantino's reserved rights for the 1994 film.
Production company Miramax further argued that Quentin Tarantino signed away his rights in all media for "Pulp Fiction" in perpetuity when the film was still under development in 1993.
In a statement to NBC News on Wednesday, Tarantino's attorney, Bryan Freedman, said Miramax is wrong.
Freedman noted that Tarantino's contract was clear that the director has 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."
Freedman added that "Miramax's callous decision to disclose confidential information about its filmmakers' contracts and compensation will irreparably tarnish its reputation long after this case is dismissed."
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Miramax vs. Quentin Tarantino: Selling NFTs Not Publication
Based on the suit that seeks unspecified damages, Miramax claimed a lawyer responded to the firm's cease-and-desist November 4 letter by saying Tarantino holds reserved rights to print publication of the script.
However, Miramax said in the suit that print publication and NFTs are not the same.
"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'," the company noted.
Miramax added that the right to sell NFTs of such excerpts of any version of the screenplay to "Pulp Fiction" is owned and controlled by the company and not by Quentin Tarantino.
The suit said Miramax holds the rights needed to sell, develop, and market NFTs relating "to its deep film library."
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Jess Smith
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