The production company behind “Blade Runner 2049” has sued Tesla, accusing it of creating unauthorized promotional materials by feeding images from the movie into an artificial intelligence image generator.
Alcon Entertainment filed a lawsuit Monday in California federal court, accusing Elon Musk and the self-driving car company of appropriating the movie’s branding to promote robotaxis at a glitzy launch event earlier this month. The producer said he did not want Musk to work with Blade Runner 2049 due to Musk’s “extreme political and social views,” and that he is not interested in continuing to work with potential partners for future TV series. He pointed out the efforts.
The complaint alleges copyright infringement and false endorsement, and also names Warner Bros. Discovery as facilitating the partnership.
“Smart brands considering partnering with Tesla must consider Mr. Musk’s highly amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which at times devolves into hate speech. “Yes,” the complaint states. “The Archons did not want BR2049 to partner with Musk.”
Tesla partnered with Warner to create a robotaxi showcase that took place on studio property, according to the complaint. During his presentation, Musk arrived on stage in a “cybertaxi” before showing a man in a trench coat looking out over the ruins of a city illuminated by misty orange light. In the upper left corner, the words “Not This” appear overlaid on part of the sky.
The image was “clearly intended to be read visually” as an actual still from the iconic sequence of Ryan Gosling’s character exploring devastated Las Vegas in Blade Runner 2049. Alcon claims the images were created by copying images from the film and prompting a replica AI image generator, something the company specifically denies licensing rights to.
Musk directly referenced Denis Villeneuve’s science fiction epic in his remarks. “You know, I love ‘Blade Runner,’ but I don’t know if we want that future,” he said. “We want that duster he’s wearing, but we don’t want that dark apocalypse.”
The lawsuit cites an agreement in which Warner leases or licenses studio space, access and other materials to Tesla for events, the details of which are unknown to Alcon. Alcon claims the deal included a promotional element that allowed Tesla to partner its products with WBD films.
WBD was Alcon’s domestic sales agent for Blade Runner 2049, which was released in 2017. Although WBD is not a Tesla livestream TV event, it does have limited clip licensing rights, the complaint alleges. Alcon said it was not made aware of the brand deal until the day it was announced.
According to the complaint, Musk told WBD that he wanted robotaxis to be associated with the movie. According to the complaint, the man asked the company for permission to use the movie stills in their entirety, and the employee sent an urgent permission request to Alcon due to international rights implications. The producer’s refusal spurred the creation of the AI image.
“All Defendants are responsible for the production and display of their content in presentations at events, from WBDI-owned buildings and studio premises, on WBDI-owned video screens, or using WBDI-operated or WBDI-owned technology infrastructure. “The company has participated in Tesla’s operations, all of whom are acting in whole or in part under Mr. Musk’s direction and control,” the complaint states.
Alcon is seeking unspecified damages and a court order barring Tesla from further distributing the disputed promotional materials.
