Miramax LLC filed a complaint against its longstanding partner Quentin Tarantino and its wholly-owned business in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on November 16.
The claim alleges that Tarantino's scheduled sale of "exclusive scenes" from the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" in NFTs violates the agreement because Tarantino transferred to Miramax "all rights (including all copyrights and trademarks) in and to the Film." Additionally, Miramax filed lawsuits for intellectual property rights under copyrights, trademark infringement, and unfair competition. Notably, Miramax v. Tarantino is the first for a federal court to weigh in on intellectual property rights about NFTs.
NFTs are copies or derivative work recorded in the blockchain. So one could argue that the NFT creator should be deemed to hold copyrights to the NFT project and each NFT under that project. At the same time, one could also argue that an NFT copyright right exists only when the creator registers NFT on the blockchain for copyright purposes. Whichever is true; this uncertainty has created a void in the $7-billion industry.
The legal ramifications of NFTs are just now becoming known. As NFTs develop in real-world, metaverse, and other online platforms, so will the extent of intellectual property rights. Courts must define the scope and limits of these rights, and legislation needs to keep pace with the changing industry.