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Quentin Tarantino may be making news for the sequels and prequels of his already successful films including Kill Bill and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, but there is a legal ghost that lurks somewhere around. The maverick filmmaker is in the headlines also for his legal tussle with Miramax over the auction of his much spoken about NFTs of the Pulp Fiction handwritten screenplay. While everyone felt things around it are settling down, things are getting darker in that department.
If you are unversed about the complete row, following the new NFT bandwagon, Quentin Tarantino too decided to join it with a handwritten script of his. And the script was of his iconic cult classic movie Pulp Fiction. The auction was scheduled between January 17 to January 21. But turned out the studio who backed the movie, Miramax, were not happy with the filmmaker selling the NFTs.
Miramax in their lawsuit claimed they still own the rights to Pulp Fiction and Quentin Tarantino selling the handwriting screenplay of the movie in NFTs is copyright infringement. While Tarantino also replied through his lawyers and refused to back out, he kept the auction on. Turns out Miramax has now hit back and listed down the outcome if the filmmaker doesn’t back out.
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As per Comicbook, Miramax’s letter to Quentin Tarantino reads, “Your apparent reliance on Mr. Tarantino’s position about his rights to Pulp Fiction is misguided. Whatever limited rights Mr. Tarantino has to screenplay publication, they do not permit the minting of unique NFTs associated with Miramax intellectual property, and his contrary position is the subject of a pending lawsuit.”
Miramax further warns that if the auction goes forward and Quentin Tarantino continues to do so with the Pulp Fiction script, the proceeds will be owned by them and they will claim it with potential damages.
“Assuming that you (like Mr. Tarantino) plan on going forward with the auction, please be on notice that you are doing so at your own risk, including the risk that you will later owe the proceeds of any sales to Miramax along with other potential damages,” the letter states. “We would hope that you also inform prospective purchasers of the risks of purchasing these unauthorized NFTs, including that purchasers may have to return the NFTs to Miramax and forfeit the price they paid for such NFTs, and that purchasers may incur additional liability in the event they later sell the unauthorized NFTs to Miramax, and that purchasers may incur additional liability in the event they later sell the authorized NFTs (including the potential for any statutory damages).”
The first scheduling conference between the lawyers is planned for February 24, but the auction is planned a month before that between January 17 to 21. Stay tuned to Koimoi for more.
