Last fall, movie director Quentin Tarantino announced that he would auction ‘Pulp Fiction’ NFTs to the public.
These NFTs would unlock handwritten scripts and exclusive custom commentary from Tarantino, assets that many fans would like to get their hands on.
NFTs are not without copyright issues, however, as Quentin Tarantino swiftly discovered. Movie studio Miramax, which owns most of the rights to the film, sees the plan as a contract breach and copyright infringement.
NFT Copyright Battle
In a lawsuit filed at a California federal court last November, the movie company accused the director of attempting to cash in on something to which he doesn’t own the full rights.
“Eager to cash in on the non-fungible token (‘NFT’) boom, as widely reported in the media, Quentin Tarantino recently announced plans to auction off seven ‘exclusive scenes’ from the 1994 motion picture Pulp Fiction in the form of NFTs,” the complaint read.
Despite this legal dispute, the first NFT was put up for auction early this year, selling for over a million dollars. Follow-up token auctions were halted soon after but the lawsuit continued.
Settlement
In June, Tarantino’s legal team asked the court to dismiss the case. This request was actively fought by Miramax. Behind the scenes, however, both sides also tried to reach agreement.
Last week, Tarantino and Miramax came together for a full-day settlement discussion, led by mediation firm Signature Resolution. While some progress was made, both parties informed the court that the case hadn’t been settled.
A week later, the movie director and film studio have now reached an agreement. A few hours ago, they filed an official notice of settlement at the California federal court.
“The parties have settled this case and expect to file their dismissal papers within two weeks,” their settlement notice reads.
More Tarantino NFTs?
The settlement details have not been shared in public but via a press statement, both parties suggest that more NFTs may be released in the future. If that’s the case, Miramax will likely get part of the cut.
“The parties have agreed to put this matter behind them and look forward to collaborating with each other on future projects, including possible NFTs,” Tarantino and Miramax comment.
With the settlement, the legal battle is effectively over. The official TarantinoNFT website remains online at the time of writing. The same can’t be said for the Twitter account, which quietly disappeared a few months ago.
Miramax used the website and the Twitter account as evidence in court, as they both posted copyrighted imagery from the Pulp Fiction film. The website was later updated to show images from Tarantino only, while the potentially infringing tweets were deleted at the same time.
