Quentin Tarantino, Miramax Settle Lawsuit Over Pulp Fiction NFTs

American director Quentin Tarantino’s venture into the non-fungible token (NFT) sphere, with an offer of handwritten pages from the screenplay of his 1994 blockbuster  Pulp Fiction and related drawings, can move forward as the artist and movie production company Miramax have settled a lawsuit the firm filed against Tarantino last year.

Lawyers for Miramax and Tarantino filed a notice of settlement on September 9 in a Los Angeles federal court, legal news site Courthousenews.com reported. The notice did not provide the settlement’s details. 

The company sued Tarantino last November to stop the filmmaker from selling the movie-related materials as NFTs, claiming it was Miramax who holds the rights required to develop, market, and sell digital assets related to its library of films.

As an unexpected development, the latest notice comes barely a week after the two parties had informed U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin that a recently held mediation session had failed to bring settlement.

In an analysis for legal publication The Belmont Entertainment Law Journal, lawyer Aaron Steinberg wrote that while “Tarantino granted Miramax extensive rights in Pulp Fiction, the contract defines ‘Reserved Rights’ that were retained by Tarantino, which include the ‘soundtrack album, music publishing, live performance, print publication (including 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.’” 

“However, Tarantino believes that the sale of a unique, scanned screenplay excerpt falls within his ‘screenplay publication’ reserved rights. Since Tarantino is selling a single copy of each NFT in his collection, the question arises whether the selling of a single, unique copy constitutes a ‘publication,’” according to the lawyer.