Miramax, LLC v. Tarantino, et al.

Overview

Filed November 16, 2021 in the Federal District Court for the Central District of California.

Summary: Quentin Tarantino, one of the most celebrated film directors of modern times, announced plans to auction seven “exclusive scenes” from his 1994 hit Pulp Fiction as NFTs. Miramax sued Tarantino for breach contract, copyright and trademark infringement, and unfair competition, claiming that it held all the rights in the film except for a narrow sliver of “Reserved Rights” held by Tarantino, which didn’t include minting and selling Pulp Fiction NFTs.

Status: On June 21, 2022, Tarantino filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, but before the court could rule on it, the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, closing the case, on October 6, 2022.

Bottom Line: Despite claims for copyright and trademark infringement, this was largely a breach of contract case that happened to have NFTs as its subject. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any significant case law development since the parties settled before any major developments took place.

Docket

Selected filings from the docket, available for free, are below. The full docket can be accessed via Court Listener.

11/16/2021 - Complaint

12/9/2021 - Answer

6/21/2022 - Tarantino’s Notice of Motion and Motion for Judgement on the Pleadings

6/30/2022 - Miramax’s Opposition re Motion for Judgement on the Pleadings

7/7/2022 - Tarantino’s Reply ISO Motion for Judgement on the Pleadings

9/8/2022 - Notice of Settlement

10/6/2022 - Joint Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice