Earlier this month, Quentin Tarantino announced he was getting involved in non-fungible tokens by selling seven never-before-seen scenes from Pulp Fiction as NFTs.
Not on Miramax’s watch though. As reported by Deadline, the classic 1994 film’s distributor is launching a new lawsuit to sabotage poor Tarantino’s plans.
Miramax is contending that all of that probably very valuable property is not the director’s to give away. As the lawsuit states, Tarantino “granted and assigned nearly all of his rights to Pulp Fiction (and all its elements in all stages of development and production) to Miramax in 1993, including the rights necessary for the ‘secrets from Pulp Fiction’ that he intends to sell.
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.” There’s a lot of business jargon in there but it basically boils down to this – Hollywood production companies think that art belongs to them rather than the actual creators.
The lawsuit runs for 22 pages which means Miramax are probably very serious about the matter. “Tarantino’s conduct 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 one of Miramax’s most iconic and valuable film properties,” the lawsuit continues.
“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.”
At the time of writing, Quentin Tarantino hasn’t changed his plans for his NFTs or even commented on Miramax’s stance. Somehow I don’t think he seems like the type to just accept something like this though. This is the man who recently said he wouldn’t give his own mum a “penny” after she had the temerity to insult one of his early screenplays. That’s a person who likes to get their own way.
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https://twitter.com/tarantinonfts/status/1458891704791089155?s=21
