Movie and television studio Alcon Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Tesla and Warner Bros Discovery, alleging that they used images from the film Blade Runner 2049 to promote Tesla's new autonomous cybercab. The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, accuses Tesla of violating US copyright law and engaging in 'false endorsement' by implying a relationship between Alcon and the Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle maker.
'Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicised, capricious and arbitrary behaviour, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account,' the lawsuit stated. Tesla and Warner Bros did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Warner Bros was the distributor for Blade Runner 2049, which won two 2018 Academy Awards and starred Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. The film was a highly anticipated sequel to the 1982 cult classic Blade Runner. Alcon claimed it had denied a request from Warner Bros to use images from the film for Tesla's October 10 live-streamed cybercab unveiling. Instead, Tesla used AI-generated images that closely resembled the movie for its event, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement, Alcon expressed concern that the defendants’ actions could cause confusion among its Blade Runner brand partners, including those it is collaborating with for its upcoming Blade Runner 2099 series on Amazon Prime. The lawsuit did not specify the damages sought but noted that Alcon had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building the Blade Runner 2049 brand, suggesting that the financial impact of the alleged misappropriation was significant.
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