Miramax filed a lawsuit against Quentin Tarantino following the Pulp Fiction director's recent announcement he plans to sell NFTs based on the 1994 cult film.
"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 company wrote in its lawsuit, according to THR. "Left unchecked, Tarantino's conduct could mislead others into believing Miramax is involved in his venture."
The production company further alleged that Tarantino's plan to release Pulp Fiction NFTs "could also mislead others into believing they have the rights to pursue similar deals or offerings" and explained that "Miramax holds the rights needed to develop, market, and sell NFTs relating to its deep film library."
While Tarantino's attorney responded by arguing the director was acting within his "Reserved Rights," Miramax accused Tarantino of intentionally disregarding the agreement he signed and attempting to devalue the NFT rights to Pulp Fiction moving forward.
Proskauer Rose LLP partner Bart Williams, who is representing Miramax, also said in a statement, "Miramax will defend all of its rights in regard to its library, including rights relating to NFTs, and will not allow Quentin's representatives to deceive others into believing they have the authority to make similar deals in violation of the rights agreements they signed."
Tarantino announced in early November that he planned to auction off a number of uncut scenes and original scripts from Pulp Fiction as NFTs. Among the collectibles are seven uncut scenes, original handwritten scripts and exclusive audio commentary from Tarantino. The director said at that time the NFTs would be built by the blockchain ecosystem known as the Secret Network and would be auctioned off on the marketplace OpenSea. As with all NFTs, each offering would come with a unique certificate of ownership.
Released in 1994, Pulp Fiction was the second feature film by Tarantino and starred Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield and John Travolta as Vincent Vega. The director's announcement about the Pulp Fiction NFTs came just weeks after the cast of FX on Hulu's What We Do in the Shadows series confirmed that Vega's hair in the film inspired a moment in Season 3, Episode 8, ("The Wellness Center"). When asked about Nandor's hair in the episode during New York Comic Con 2021, actor Kayvan Novak revealed that series hair designer Tamara Harrod "wanted [him] to look like John Travolta."
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