The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of lawsuits.
Production company Miramax has filed a lawsuit against Director Quentin Tarantino for his plans to mint and auction seven non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on his cult-classic film Pulp Fiction.
Speaking at a crypto-art conference NFT NYC, the academy-award winning director announced plans to auction NFTs based on excerpts from the original, handwritten script for the film along with his own commentary. The NFTs are being built on Secret Network, a layer-1 blockchain application which locks NFT content to be only viewable by the NFT owner.
The NFTs will reveal secrets about the film and its creator but has encountered a cease-and-desist letter from Miramax, who claim the work infringes their copyright in the 1994 iconic film. The suit will turn on whether Tarantino‘s planned sale based on the screenplay can qualify as a 'publication' of the screenplay.
According to Tarantino's lawyer, the director retained the right to publish his screenplay in the Miramax contract and that he is exercising this right. On the other hand, Miramax is arguing that NFTs are a one-time sale and are not equivalent to a publication of a screenplay, therefore infringing rights owned by Miramax.
Miramax, who were planning to release their own NFTs based on their extensive film inventory, claim the move by Tarantino is undercutting their own future sales. Tarantino's lawyers shot back at the production company saying that they are wrong and the director is acting within his "Reserved Rights", ultimately the right to "Screenplay Publication".
With NFTs being the talk of the town in recent months, its no surprise there is now a legal battle surrounding Pulp Fiction NFTs. In any case, the suit will rest on the limits placed on Tarantino's Reserved Rights and how a court will interpret an NFT in terms of publication.