• Public

  • Public
  • Network
  • Groups
  • Popular
  • People

A judge has granted a preliminary injunction ordering “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli to forfeit any digital copies he made of the Wu-Tang Clan’s one-of-a-kind Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.9 In 2018, Shkreli was forced to forfeit the album, along with other assets, to fulfill the forfeiture order resulting from his securities fraud conviction. The art collecting PleasrDAO later purchased it from the federal government at auction for $4.75 million. PleasrDAO sued Shkreli in June of this year, after they found him livestreaming the album on Twitter Spaces and promising to share copies.10 They’ve alleged that although the album was supposed to be one-of-a-kind, Shkreli made digital copies that he has since released, or plans to release, in contravention of the legal agreements attached to the album. This lawsuit is amusing to me when considered in the context of the claims we used to hear a lot out of the crypto world around how blockchains could solve problems around digital uniqueness. If only the Wu-Tang Clan had released it as an NFT... the case would still be right where it is now, in the courts. My favorite part of the lawsuit thus far is that PleasrDAO has now formally argued in front of the court that Shkreli disrespected the Wu-Tang Clan: E. Shkreli Other Displays of Contempt for PleasrDAO, Wu-Tang, and The Judicial System