A cryptocurrency collective that recently made a nearly $3 million purchase of a rare copy of Alejandro Jodorowsky's pitch "Bible" for his failed film adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune has been widely mocked on social media after suggesting that its purchase of the rare book meant it had acquired the intellectual property within the book, rather than simply the book itself.The group, known as Spice DAO, however, appeared to concede that it does not own any intellectual property rights to Dune. Instead, it simply plans to both display the book's contents and use it as an inspiration for a new animated series, which the group plans to sell to a streaming service.
The "Bible" sold for over $3 million USD at Christie's auction house in November 2021. When SPICE DAO posted about the purchase on Twitter, it sounded as if the group believed it had acquired some intellectual property rights to the book through its purchase, especially since the group spent such a large sum for the text. This led to a good deal of online mockery for the apparent lack of understanding of intellectual property rights, with others pointing out that the book can already be viewed online.
However, in a statement shared to Spice DAO's Medium page, it appears as though the group just phrased its tweet poorly.
"We are thrilled to announce the beginning of an epic journey for our community: the wheels have begun to turn on an original animated limited series inspired by Jodorowsky's Dune. Our very own Space Opera," Spice DAO wrote. "Jodorowsky's expansive vision for Dune in some way planted the seeds for nearly every Sci-Fi project over the last 50 years. While we do not own the IP to Frank Herbert's masterpiece, we are uniquely positioned with the opportunity to create our own addition to the genre as an homage to the giants who came before us."
In other words, there are plans to try to display the book, but in general, the purchase was just a source of inspiration for a brand-new series inspired by the book (and Dune itself).
Jodorowsky famously attempted to adapt Dune in the 1970s, with design work from H.R. Giger and Jodorowsky's comic book collaborator, the legendary artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud. However, Jodorowsky's proposed budget for the film was $15 million, almost twice the largest film budget of the era, and the film was never made. The film option lapsed in 1982 and two other adaptations of Dune have been made since then. Jodorowsky prepared a lavish "Bible" for the film with Moebius storyboards for the movie. Very few were produced, with one of these rare copies recently offered up for auction, where it was purchased by Spice DAO. A 2013 documentary about the failed production has led to an increase in demand for one of the few Jodorowsky's "Bibles" in existence.
The expectation was that the book would sell for $40,000, but 25-year-old cryptocurrency enthusiast Soban Saqib instead bid $2.9 million (all of his liquid assets). The cryptocurrency collective SpiceDAO then raised enough money to cover Sabib's purchase with millions left over for possible new projects based on the purchase of the book.