Quentin Tarantino and Miramax have reportedly buried the hatchet in their dispute over NFT auction excerpts of Pulp Fiction. The quiet resolution brings an end to a legal skirmish that could have had profound implications in determining who gets paid for NFTs based on films if it had gone to trial. The settlement also comes amidst a brutal cryptocurrency downturn that’s all but killed the once seemingly unstoppable NFT hype train.
The conflict kicked off last November when Miramax sued the director over an NFT collection he created based off of his 1994 film. Each NFT in the collection consisted of media relating to his original screenplay for particular iconic scenes in the film. Even though Tarantino retains the rights to the screenplay, Miramax claimed the NFTs fell under an emerging technology category from which they could still potentially profit. Wanting a cut, the company sued Tarantino for allegedly violating the company’s copyright and trademark.
“Tarantino’s limited ‘reserved Rights’ under the operative agreements are far too narrow for him to unilaterally produce, market, and sell the Pulp Fiction NFTs,” Miramax’s attorney wrote in the lawsuit.
Miramax took particular issue with Tarantino’s alleged secrecy when creating the project. The suit claims.
“Tarantino kept his Pulp Fiction NFT plans secret from Miramax, his long time financier and collaborator on multiple critically and commercially successful films,” the lawsuit reads. “He made no efforts to contact Miramax prior to his coordinator press campaign.”
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In spite of the lawsuit, Tarantino went ahead with one of the seven planned auctions which reportedly raked in $1.1 million. Not long after, however, the remaining six collections were canceled with Tarantino’s partners citing “extreme market volatility.”
That volatility has gotten much, much worse since then. In July, leading NFT marketplace OpenSea saw its sales volume plummet by 75% compared to just two month prior, according to DappRadar data viewed by Bloomberg. The price floor on the once mega-popular Bored Ape yacht Club NFT collection reportedly fell about 33% around the same time.
Now, nearly a year later, Tarantino and Miramax are finally ending the feud according to new court filings.
“The parties have agreed to put this matter behind them and look forward to collaborating with each other on future projects, including possible NFTs,” Miramax and Tarantino said in a joint statement seen by Deadline.
Hmm, “future projects.” I wonder what they’ll be.
