‘Blade Runner 2049’ producer sues Tesla and Warner Bros over AI footage

Film and television studio Alcon Entertainment sued Tesla and Warner Bros Discovery on Monday over claims they used footage linked to the movie “Blade Runner 2049” to promote Tesla’s new self-driving cybercab.

Alcon’s federal lawsuit in California alleged violations of US copyright law and accused Tesla of “false endorsement” for suggesting a relationship between Alcon and the electric vehicle maker owned by Elon Musk.

“Any prudent brand considering any association with Tesla must take into account Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which at times devolves into hate speech,” the lawsuit said.

Tesla and Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Warner Bros was Alcon’s distributor for “Blade Runner 2049,” which won two 2018 Academy Awards and starred Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in the long-awaited sequel to the 1982 cult classic Blade Runner.

Alcon said it had declined a request from Warner Bros to use the company’s footage for Tesla’s Oct. 10 live CyberCab unveiling. Tesla then used images created with artificial intelligence (AI) that mirrored the film for its cybercab event, the suit said.

In a statement, Alcon said that “the defendants’ conduct is likely to cause confusion among customers of Alcon’s ‘Blade Runner’ brand, including those with whom it is partnering for its upcoming series ‘Blade Runner 2099.’ for Amazon Prime.”

The suit did not list specific damages, but said Alcon had spent hundreds of millions of dollars building the Blade Runner 2049 brand and said “the financial magnitude of the misappropriation here was substantial.”

© Thomson Reuters 2024

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