Quentin Tarantino is being sued by Miramax officials over his plans to auction off non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on his film Pulp Fiction.

The Kill Bill filmmaker announced earlier this month that he would be auctioning off seven NFTs featuring never-before-seen content based on the 1994 film, starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, and Uma Thurman. The NFTs will include extracts from Tarantino’s original handwritten script that were cut from the final draft as well as commentary from the director.

Officials at the film company Miramax, which owns the right to the movie, have filed a lawsuit against Tarantino accusing him of copyright infringement by selling the NFTs. The company’s legal team alleges they sent the filmmaker a cease-and-desist letter to try and block his plans but he is pushing forward regardless. They claim his sale has interfered with their plans to enter the NFT market with the movie.

In a statement to Variety, Miramax’s attorney Bart Williams accused Tarantino of making a “deliberate, pre-meditated, short-term money grab”.

“This group chose to recklessly, greedily, and intentionally disregard the agreement that Quentin signed instead of following the clear legal and ethical approach of simply communicating with Miramax about his proposed ideas,” Williams said. “This one-off effort devalues the NFT rights to Pulp Fiction, which Miramax intends to maximise through a strategic, comprehensive approach.”

According to the legal action, Tarantino’s lawyer told Miramax that he is simply exercising his right to publish his Pulp Fiction screenplay, as per his Miramax contract, however, the company’s legal team argues that the NFT auction is a one-off sale, not the publication of the script. They insist they own the NFT rights.

They are also suing for breach of contract, trademark infringement, and unfair competition.

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