The production company claims its denied a request to use an image from the movie, which led to Tesla creating a deepfake instead.
AUSTIN, Texas — The production company behind “Blade Runner 2049” has sued Tesla, CEO Elon Musk and Warner Bros. Discovery for copyright infringement.
The lawsuit stems from the Tesla Robotaxi reveal on Oct. 10, where Musk began his keynote address mentioning the future and his love for the movie by name, but not “the bleak apocalypse” it depicts.
According to the lawsuit, Alcon Entertainment “refused all permissions” and objected to the defendant’s request to use an image from the movie. However, Alcon accuses Tesla, Musk and Warner Bros. of using a similar AI-generated deepfake during the reveal.
The image Tesla requested was reportedly used by Alcon in marketing, promotional and publicity materials leading up to its release. Alcon accused the group of feeding the image into an AI image generator and then making minor changes to fake the screenshot they asked for and displaying it during the Robotaxi reveal for the audience.
Alcon states in the lawsuit that beyond the commercial issues, there’s also “the problematic Musk himself.” In the lawsuit, Alcon said the company and its principals don’t agree with Musk’s extreme political and social views and don’t want the movie to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla or any Musk company for those reasons.
The lawsuit claims since the worldwide livestream was shared on Tesla, Musk and other feeds thousands of times, the movie and Tesla are now “irreparably entangled in the global media tapestry.”
No specific amount of money is mentioned in the damages that Alcon seeks, but the company states it believes Musk, Tesla and Warner Bros. understood “the unauthorized nature of the image and the improper purpose behind it.”
Alcon says it has registered the movie with the United States Copyright Officer and that it has been registered since Oct. 6, 2017.
KVUE reached out to Tesla for a response to the lawsuit but has not heard back.
