Alcon Entertainment, the producer of “Blade Runner 2049,” is suing Tesla and CEO Elon Musk and Warner Bros. Discovery. Self-driving robotaxis.
Alcon’s lawsuit, filed in LA on Monday, accuses Musk, Tesla and WBD of direct copyright infringement, aggravated copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement and wrongful consent. The suit seeks an injunction to prevent Musk, Tesla, WPT and “anyone working with them from further copying, displaying, distributing, selling, or selling ‘BR2049’ or any protectable components associated with Tesla or Musk. Its for such purposes” as well as unspecified monetary damages.
Representatives for Tesla, Musk and Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Alcon, on Oct. 10, 2024, Musk unveiled Tesla’s fully autonomous Robotaxis at the Warner Bros. Discovery lot in Burbank, Calif. — and the AI-generated images the tech mogul used in his presentation refer to Alcon’s copyrighted motion picture footage. Following Alcon’s denial of use of said images.” The Tesla presentation was livestreamed worldwide and has since been posted or retweeted thousands of times with “millions of total views,” the company said.
During the Oct. 10 presentation, AI-generated images mimicking scenes from “Blade Runner 2049” — including a “Ryan Gosling look-alike” and “the iconic Peugeot-styled futuristic vehicle in the film” — were shown. According to the Alcon complaint, during an 11-second segment of the presentation “Musk tried to explain why these images were being shown”.
On October 9, the day before the release, Warner Bros. Discovery asked Alcan for the ability to use certain images and clips from “Blade Runner 2049” for Tesla’s presentation the following day. Alcon co-CEOs Andrew Kosow and Broderick Johnson “rejected WBD’s request, objecting to their image being associated in any way with Tesla, Musk or a Musk-owned company,” the company said. The lawsuit alleges that neither Warner Bros. Pictures nor any other WBD company “has sufficient rights to permit Tesla to use BR2049 or its components, marks or goodwill related to the worldwide livestream reveal event.”
Alcon’s lawsuit alleges that Tesla and Musk asked WBD for specific permission and rights to use the image below, which the production company said was “one of the most iconic images” from the 2017 film. The film’s protagonist, K, a deputy police officer played by Gosling, “with his close-cropped hair and wearing his distinctive trench coat or ‘duster’, stands next to his spinner, facing away from the camera. Examine the devastated orange-lit Las Vegas cityscape”:
Alcon’s lawsuit alleges that Musk was “personally aware of Alcon’s denials and objections” to the use of “Blade Runner 2049” images for the Tesla event, and that he “personally knew of incorporating ‘BR2049’ into the event’s presentation. All improper and an unauthorized misappropriation of ‘BR2049’ goodwill.” .and he did it anyway.
According to Alcon, the image below from Musk’s presentation is “clearly intended to read visually
As an actual still from K’s ‘BR2049’ iconic sequence exploring a desolate Las Vegas, or a minimally stylized copy of one”:
Based on Alcon’s testing, the image Musk used at the Tesla Robotaxis event appears to have been created by AI based on an official still from “Blade Runner 2049” or “some close input direction.”
According to Alcon’s lawsuit, “It’s no coincidence that ‘BR2049’ was the only specific Hollywood movie in which Musk actually discussed his new, fully autonomous, AI-powered cybercab. The whole story is an intelligent, fully autonomous car. It is clear that this was a bad faith and willfully malicious gamble, especially since the defendants had so firmly denied Alcon’s permission to use BR2049. Abuse BR2049’s brand to help sell Teslas.”
In addition to linking its copyrighted property to Tesla or Musk, Alcon’s lawsuit alleges that the defendant’s conduct may cause confusion among customers of Alcon’s ‘Blade Runner’ brand partner. “The series for Amazon Prime is currently filming in Europe,” Alcon said in a statement. According to the lawsuit, Alcon is “in talks with other automotive brands” to partner on the “Blade Runner 2099” series.
Alcon’s case is “in addition to the more mundane business issues, problematic is Musk himself. Any sane brand considering any Tesla partnership must take into account Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech. As here, a company Or if its principals really don’t agree with Musk’s radical political and social views, a potential brand tie-up with Tesla could be even more problematic.
Alcon filed the lawsuit Monday (Oct. 21) in the U.S. District Court for the Western Division of the Central District of California. A copy of the complaint is attached.
