If someone can follow the trends and quickly adapt a business model to make use of the trend, that person can earn quick money.
That is at least what Miramax, an American entertainment company, thinks.
The production company has filed a lawsuit accusing director Quentin Tarantino of copyright infringement for planning to sell NFTs derived from the company's blockbuster 1994 film, Pulp Fiction.
It all began earlier on November 2nd, when Tarantino announced that he would be tokenizing seven uncut screenplay scenes for the critically-acclaimed film as NFTs.
The Non-Fungible Tokens shall be built on the blockchain called the Secret Network.
Each of the seven tokens would feature "the uncut first handwritten scripts of Pulp Fiction, as well as exclusive custom commentary from Tarantino himself, revealing secrets about the film and its creator.
Hearing this news, Miramax is angered.
Miramax called Tarantino's plan a "deliberate, premeditated, short-term money grab."
Miramax can do this because the company owns the rights to the director’s classic edition of Pulp Fiction.
In the lawsuit that was filed on November 16th in the Central District of California, Miramax also claimed that "Tarantino kept his Pulp Fiction NFT plans secret, and that Tarantino "made no efforts to contact Miramax prior to his coordinated press campaign, despite having what were likely extensive negotiations with third parties to develop and sell the NFTs."
"This one-off effort devalues the NFT rights to Pulp Fiction, which Miramax intends to maximize through a strategic, comprehensive approach," wrote Miramax attorney Bart Williams 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."
In his defense, Tarantino through his lawyers claimed that he has the right to publish his original screenplay in the Miramax contract.
According to the contract, the director retained some rights to the film, including ‘soundtrack album, music publishing, live performance, print publication. And these also include, without limitation, screenplay publication, making of books, comic books and novelization, in audio and electronic formats as well, as applicable, interactive media, theatrical and television sequel and remake rights, and television series and spinoff rights."
All Tarantino did was exercising that right through the NFT sale.
Miramax argues that NFTs are a one-time sale, and are not equivalent to publication of a screenplay.
"The proposed sale of a few original script pages or scenes as an NFT is a one-time transaction, which does not constitute publication, and in any event does not fall within the intended meaning of 'print publication' or 'screenplay publication,'" the lawsuit stated.
"The right to sell NFTs of such excerpts of any version of the screenplay to Pulp Fiction is owned and controlled by Miramax."
Because Miramax has the rights to most media-related involving the movie, including the NFTs Tarantino is looking to sell, the company is not happy being left in the dark.
In an attempt to stop Tarantino, the lawsuit claims that Tarantino is breaching contract, and is doing copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Miramax accused Tarantino for violating the studio's rights.
"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," Miramax wrote in its lawsuit.
"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."
Through the company's lawyers, Miramax sent Tarantino a cease and desist letter to block the sale.
Miramax is the production company behind Pulp Fiction, co-founded by disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein. Harvey Weinstein was ousted from the production company in October 2017 after a list of sexual abuse charges were revealed.
It was Miramax that funded and collaborated with Tarantino on several of his other successful films.
