His admirers and opponents alike have long suspected that Quentin Tarantino regards himself as a universal genius.

As a director, screenwriter, writer, producer, he likes to introduce himself - now he's also drawn to the art world.

And that gets him in a lot of trouble.

Claudius Seidl

Editor in the features section.

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On November 2nd, Tarantino announced that he would auction seven NFTs, non-fungible tokens, i.e. digital works that cannot be copied. Visible and audible only for the respective owner, these NFTs would reveal the final secrets of Tarantino's “Pulp Fiction”; it is about handwritten script pages for scenes that would not have made it into the finished film, as well as Tarantino's comments on them and on other puzzles in the film. However, this idea is not entirely original; There is also merchandise in this form for the new James Bond film. And it is precisely in this medium that the studios are promising a completely new market: with fan articles that might be more attractive and expensive than plastic t-shirts or laser swords.

And that's why Miramax, the production company of "Pulp Fiction", which was then run by the notorious Harvey Weinstein, has now filed a lawsuit in a court in California for breach of contract and unfair competition. According to the New York Times newspaper, Miramax owns all rights, and if Tarantino does business with NFTs around "pulp fiction", he will prevent the rights holder Miramax from doing the same. But that is exactly what she had planned for a long time - and Tarantino did not even consider it necessary to consult with the company. Tarantino replies that the rights to the script remained with him. What Miramax claims is simply wrong.

The dispute, like Scarlett Johansson's dispute with the Disney studio, points out that the old power and ownership structures are no longer up to date with the latest production and distribution technologies.

When Tarantino and Miramax negotiated their contract for the rights to “Pulp Fiction” in 1993, there weren't even DVDs available - how could the copyrights on a digital one-off be negotiable?

In this respect, the outcome of the dispute will be momentous - and completely irrelevant for fans.

Only seven owners will learn the secrets of Pulp Fiction.