Miramax is suing director Quentin Tarantino for selling never-before-seen scenes from Pulp Fiction as NFTs, claiming they own the rights to the film and any merchandise related to it, and that he is violating his 1993 contract.
The studio, which also produced both Kill Bill movies, filed the lawsuit today after their cease and desist order sent to Tarantino's legal team on November 4 was reportedly ignored.
The 58-year-old director announced he was putting seven cut scenes from his 1994 dark comedy starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman for auction on November 2 as Secret NFTs on OpenSea, the world's largest NFT marketplace.
'I'm excited to be presenting these exclusive scenes from "Pulp Fiction" to fans. Secret Network and Secret NFTs provide a whole new world of connecting fans and artists and I'm thrilled to be a part of that,' Tarantino said in a statement.
Miramax is suing director Quentin Tarantino (pictured) for selling never-before-seen scenes from Pulp Fiction as NFTs, claiming they own the rights to the film and any merchandise related to it, and that he is violating his 1993 contract
Seven cut scenes from his 1994 dark comedy starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman (pictured) were put up for auction as Secret NFTs on OpenSea
'Pulp Fiction' (pictured) celebrated it's 25th anniversary in 2019 and is often credited by film buffs for introducing indie films into the mainstream
The studio, which also produced both Kill Bill movies, filed the lawsuit today after, they said, a cease and desist order sent to Tarantino's legal team on November 4 was ignored and 'Tarantino's plans to sell... Miramax's intellectual property intensified' as he continued to post promotional materials for the sale
He did not, according to the lawsuit, consult Miramax before doing so, which the company said 'forced' them to file the Tuesday lawsuit:
'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 icon and valuable film properties.'
Miramax attorney Bart Williams accused Tarantino and his team of a 'deliberate, pre-meditated, short-term money grab' in a statement:
'This group chose to recklessly, greedily, and intentionally disregard the agreement that Quentin signed instead of following the clear legal and ethical approach of simply communicating with Miramax about his proposed ideas,' Williams wrote.
This post on the @TarantinoNFTs promotional account, according to Miramax's attorneys, was posted after the film studio sent the director a cease and desist order on November 4
Among the items that Tarantino intends to sell are 'seven unseen scenes, also up for auction will be an uncut first handwritten scripts of 'Pulp Fiction' and exclusive custom commentary from Tarantino that will 'reveal secrets about the film and its creator,' according to a statement
The lawsuit will hinge on the question of whether selling NFTs based on excerpts from Tarantino's original screenplay qualifies as the
