Neil Elan’s article “Pulp Fiction NFT Lawsuit (Miramax v. Tarantino, et al.): A Preview of Coming Attractions” was recently published in Forbes, explaining the pending case of Miramax, LLC v. Quentin Tarantino and Visiona Romantica, Inc. (United States District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 2:21-cv-08979).
The case arises from American filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino’s launch of a PULP FICTION NFT collection in late 2021. Miramax LLC is suing Tarantino and his production company, Visiona Romantica, Inc., for breach of contract, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unfair competition. With the recent rise of NFTs, Tarantino launched an NFT collection, consisting of digital images of portions of the handwritten version of the PULP FICTION screenplay. The lawsuit centers around, among other related issues, whether Tarantino had the contractual right to launch the NFT collection based on the language in the license and assignment agreements dating back to the early 1990s that granted Tarantino the reserved right to “screenplay publication."
The article touches on some of the many challenges and issues that attorneys handling NFT and licensing disputes will need to consider in handling NFT lawsuits, especially given the absence of NFT-specific jurisprudence. Among other takeaways, Neil recommends that “IP license agreements contain sufficient detail and context. That way, even if the contract does not cover a particular situation, the inferred intent of the contracting parties can guide the way in determining whether the parties intended a certain outcome under the contract.”
Read Neil’s latest article, entitled “Pulp Fiction NFT Lawsuit (Miramax v. Tarantino, et al.): A Preview of Coming Attractions” on Forbes.
