Elon Musk sued by ‘Blade Runner 2049’ producers

Alcon Entertainment claims they previously denied Tesla CEO permission to use sci-fi movie stills at Cybercab demo event

Elon Musk faces a new lawsuit for allegedly using copyrighted images to create a Blade Runner-inspired AI-generated image for a Tesla Cybercab demonstration event, in an attempt to dissociate the film from his Self-driving electric vehicles are connected.

Alcon Entertainment, the company behind the “Blade Runner 2049” film, filed a lawsuit in California federal court on Monday. It accuses Musk of copyright infringement and false endorsement, while accusing Warner Bros. Discovery of allowing Tesla to hold events at its venues.

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The lawsuit involves artificial intelligence-generated images of post-apocalyptic environments that were heavily inspired by the yellow haze in Blade Runner 2049. Musk showed off the photo during a speech at Tesla’s “We, the Robots” event while referencing the Denis Villeneuve film: “You know, I love ‘Blade Runner,’ but I don’t know that we Do you want that future? I believe we want that rag he’s wearing, but not, uh, not a bleak apocalypse.”

Aclon Entertainment believes the image is “clearly intended to read visually” as a still from Blade Runner 2049, showing Officer K (played by actor Ryan Gosling) exploring Las Vegas. The company claimed that it had denied the emergency permission request, assuming Elon Musk resorted to a solution for AI-generated images.

Elon Musk (above), and the controversial AI-generated image shown during Tesla’s “We, the Robots” event (below).

Screenshot: Tesla/YouTube

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the company doesn’t want the film to be tied to Musk and is urging other companies to do the same: “Any prudent brand considering working with Tesla must accept that Musk is massively amplified and highly politicized. , erratic and arbitrary behavior, sometimes veering into hate speech, given the.”

Alcon Entertainment also accuses Warner of leasing its factory space to Tesla, allegedly allowing the electric car maker to associate its products with WDB movies such as 2017’s “Blade Runner.” Warners, which holds limited editing rights to the film, did not tell Alcon Entertainment about the brand deal before the day of the event.

“All Defendants participated in its creation and presentation at event presentations, in WBDI-owned buildings and studio space, on WBDI-owned video screens and otherwise using WBDI-owned technology infrastructure, by or When working with Tesla employees, all actions are directed and controlled in whole or in part by Musk.”

The company is now seeking unspecified damages and a court order preventing Tesla from further distributing the controversial promotional materials.

This isn’t the first time Musk has faced problems related to science fiction movies. Earlier this month, I, Robot director Alex Proyas accused Elon of copying the design of Tesla’s Cybercab and Robovan movie prop vehicles. Although Tesla’s “We, the Robots” campaign was an obvious reference to the 2004 movie starring Will Smith, the complaint did not turn into a lawsuit.