Tesla and Warner Bros. have been sued by Alcon Entertainment, the production company behind the film Blade Runner 2049. The lawsuit accuses the two companies of infringing on Alcon’s copyright by allegedly using an AI-generated image closely resembling a scene from Blade Runner 2049 during Tesla’s recent Cybercab event.
The event revealed to the world for the first time Tesla’s much-anticipated robotaxi, with Musk, as he typically does, delivering a presentation. It was during this presentation when a visual appeared on the screen showing a figure in a long coat overlooking a ruined city. According to Alcon, this imagery was unmistakably similar to a moment in Blade Runner 2049, where the protagonist surveys an abandoned Las Vegas.
According to the lawsuit, Tesla approached Alcon just hours before the event to request permission to use imagery from Blade Runner 2049. Alcon claims they flatly refused, citing concerns about Musk’s increasingly controversial public image and the potential for unwanted association with his companies.
The lawsuit alleges that Tesla and WBD circumvented this denial by using AI to generate an almost identical image, thus misappropriating the intellectual property for the event.
On the left is the image from the robotaxi event, and on the right is the image from Blade Runner 2049.
During the presentation, Musk even made a reference to the film, saying, “I love Blade Runner, but I don’t know if we want that future.” The lawsuit claims this comment, paired with the imagery on display, left no doubt that Tesla was attempting to associate its Cybercab with the futuristic world portrayed in Blade Runner 2049.
Alcon’s complaint specifically alleges that Musk and Tesla used the image without proper licensing, engaging in “bad faith and malicious gambits” to associate their Cybercab with Blade Runner 2049, a move that could give the company a marketing edge in promoting its autonomous vehicles.
If you recall we said Warner Bros. was also named in the lawsuit, and that’s because Alcon alleges they facilitated this infringement by allowing Musk to use their studio lot for the event and participating in the alleged copyright breach.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent Tesla from further using the imagery, as well as monetary damages for the alleged infringement and harm to Alcon’s brand.
