Miramax sued director Quentin Tarantino on Tuesday over his plans to manufacture and auction off a series of NFTs based on his work on “Pulp Fiction.”
According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Miramax claims that Tarantino’s planned offers violate the copyrights it holds on the director’s 1994 film.
Tarantino’s picture starring Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and John Travolta, catapulted him from a lauded independent director to a major cinematic celebrity.
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It was one of the many projects he worked on with Miramax, which was then directed by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
Tarantino recently revealed intentions to sell seven NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital works that have been rendered unique and linked to a specific owner via bitcoin technology.
The NFTs, which will be available next month, will feature scanned digital copies of handwritten script pages for uncut versions of film scenes, as well as audio commentary and other materials. Each will also have “hidden” features that only the owner will have access to.
“Tarantino’s actions has compelled Miramax to file this lawsuit against a valued colleague 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,” Miramax stated in the lawsuit. “If Tarantino’s actions go unchecked, they may mislead people into thinking Miramax is participating in his enterprise.” It may also mislead others into assuming they have the legal authority to pursue similar arrangements.”
According to the lawsuit, Tarantino’s attorneys reacted to Miramax’s cease-and-desist letters by claiming that the sales fell under Tarantino’s portion rights to the production, which included the rights to screenplay publication. The action requests that a judge prohibits the sale of the NFTs and any comparable violation of Miramax copyrights, and pays its legal fees and any connected costs.
