Studio Miramax files case against Quentin Tarantino for 'Pulp Fiction' NFT auction

Movie studio Miramax on Tuesday has filed a lawsuit against Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino for his plan to sell the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on his 1994 groundbreaking film Pulp Fiction. 

As per the reports from Variety, the Academy Award-winning director, earlier this month, announced his plan to sell scenes from the early handwritten script of the film Pulp Fiction as NFTs at a recent crypto-art convention in New York. Notably, these scenes are not present in the final version of the film. The director has partnered with SCRT Labs to auction seven tokens based on the film. These NFTs will also include the audio commentary from Tarantino and Pulp Fiction art. 

Miramax files case against Quentin Tarantino

The studio filed a complaint in the Los Angeles’ District Court that it has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the ace filmmaker after learning about his plans to sell NFTs, but this has not stopped Tarantino and his team from going ahead with the auction plan. As per the lawsuit, Miramax still owns the rights to the critically acclaimed 1994 film. 

“Tarantino’s 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 Miramax’s most iconic and valuable properties,” the company wrote in its lawsuit.

The studio also showed concern that if this is left unchecked, Tarantino’s conduct could mislead into believing that Miramax is involved in his venture. Miramax also said that it could also mislead others into believing that they have developed rights to pursue similar deals or offerings when the studio holds the needed rights to develop, market and sell NFTs relating to its huge library.

As per the lawsuit, the film director’s lawyer has told the film studio that Tarantino holds the rights to publish Pulp Fiction’s screenplay in the Miramax contract and he is exercising his rights through NFT sale. To which Miramax argued that these NFTs are one time sales and are not equivalent to the publication of a screenplay and hence, the studio owns the rights. According to the lawsuit, this is a breach of contract, copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition. NFTs have become a popular commodity in not just Hollywood but for artists around the world as these tokens provide a new way to monetise and promote their work.

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: AP)