The producers behind “Blade Runner 2049” filed a lawsuit this week against Elon Musk’s Tesla after the electric car company allegedly used licensed content from the film to generate AI images for its robotaxi event.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, Alcon Entertainment accused Tesla of using the 2017 Blade Runner sequel’s brand to promote its upcoming robotaxi at its unveiling earlier this month. The company says it does not want “Blade Runner 2049” associated with Tesla due to Mr. Musk’s political views, which include an endorsement of Donald Trump for president.
“Alcon did not want BR2049 to be affiliated with Musk,” the complaint reads. “Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
According to the complaint, Tesla entered into a partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery as part of its robotaxi event held at the Los Angeles studio’s production facility. Warner Bros. was the domestic distributor for “Blade Runner 2049” when it was released in 2017 but doesn’t hold comprehensive licensing rights to the film.
The complaint says Mr. Musk wanted to associate Tesla’s robotaxi with the film, prompting a Warner Bros. employee to ask Alcon for permission. When Alcon refused, Tesla used AI to generate imagery that looked as close as possible to “Blade Runner 2049” without breaking copyright.
The robotaxi event did feature several visual references to the film, including a ruined Los Angeles covered in orange dust. Mr. Musk also directly referenced “Blade Runner” during the event, saying he wasn’t sure he wanted “that future.”
Alcon also is seeking a court order to bar Tesla and Mr. Musk from using “Blade Runner 2049” content in the future and for unspecified damages.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.