Secret Network Rallies Amid Pulp Fiction NFT Drama

The Tarantino-Miramax lawsuit has helped bring attention to Secret Network. SCRT is up 32% today.

Secret Network Posts Gains on Upcoming Tarantino NFTs

Secret Network is gaining traction in the market.

SCRT has posted gains days in the lead-up to Quentin Tarantino’s first NFT auction. The celebrated director is set to release a set of rare Pulp Fiction cuts on the network between 17 and 31 Jan., 2022.

Secret Network is a blockchain that specializes in privacy-preserving smart contracts. It was built using the Cosmos SDK. Per data from CoinGecko, SCRT recorded an all-time high price of $10.38 on Oct. 28. Tarantino announced his NFT drop a few days later.

It suffered from a recent downturn across the crypto market but has rallied over the last few days. It’s currently trading at $8.70, up 32% in the last 24 hours.

Secret Network has received additional mainstream attention in recent weeks due to an ongoing legal battle between Tarantino and Miramax over the planned Pulp Fiction NFTs.

On Nov. 17, 2021, Miramax, which distributed Pulp Fiction, filed a lawsuit against Tarantino claiming that the NFTs represent intellectual property and breach a contract agreement in which Tarantino assigned “all rights (including all copyrights and trademarks) in and to the Film.”

Secret Network, meanwhile, has argued that Tarantino owns the “exclusive rights to publish his Pulp Fiction screenplay,” and that the screenplay has been part of his private collection for several decades.

Each of the seven NFTs represents a portion of hand-written screenplay copies of the film. The collection’s official website notes that the NFTs grant holders access to personalized audio commentary from the writer-director. As each piece is unique and they’re being released on Secret Network, the owner of each NFT will be the only person who can access the content. The auction terms state that NFT holders will not get any commercial rights to the movie’s screenplay as those will remain with Tarantino. Each NFT can be held solely for the owner’s “personal, non-commercial use,” the website states.

In the final lead-up to the auction commencing, the legal battle between both parties has intensified. On Wednesday, Tarantino’s lawyer Bryan J. Freedman sent a cease and desist letter to Miramax against its “attempts to interfere with and depress the sale of NFTs.” This came after Miramax had sent a legal notice to SCRT Labs CEO Guy Zyskind on Monday.

Freedman has stated that Tarantino retains full publishing rights to the Pulp Fiction screenplay, per U.S. copyright laws. He further clarified that Tarantino NFTs serve as a “mechanism for the buyer to locate and access the published screenplay or portions thereof .” Freedman’s comments indicate that the NFTs will not use any footage that was published in the movie; the project has also billed the drop as a set of “exclusive scenes.”

Thanks partly to the legal drama, the NFT drop has been one of the most widely-publicized auctions in the space in recent weeks, and it’s taking place exclusively on Secret Network. This, along with the network’s in-built privacy features, could help drive adoption. Tarantino’s NFTs also position Secret Network as a viable hub for NFTs, though it will have some way to go to catch up with the likes of Solana, Tezos, and the current market leader, Ethereum.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and other cryptocurrencies.