October 26, 2024 – Earlier this week, the sci-fi movie “Blade Runner 2049” accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of copyright infringement, prompting a blunt response from Musk, who simply stated, “That movie sucked.”
On October 22nd, Alcon Entertainment, the Los Angeles-based company behind “Blade Runner 2049,” filed a lawsuit against Tesla, Musk, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The latter parties were charged with using an AI image generator to create promotional images for the “We, Robot” event, which were said to mimic scenes from the 2017 science fiction film.
According to Alcon, they own the copyrights to “Blade Runner 2049,” and Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery made a last-minute request to use footage from the movie on the afternoon of October 10th, just hours before the event was scheduled to take place at Warner Bros. Studios.
Despite Warner Bros. Discovery holding some licensing rights to “Blade Runner 2049,” the global live stream of the event required direct permission from Alcon for the use of the footage. Upon learning of the matter, Alcon’s legal and licensing department promptly issued a clear denial to the parties involved.
However, Alcon alleges that Tesla disregarded the refusal and proceeded to input scenes from “Blade Runner 2049” into an AI image generator, producing “slightly stylized virtual stills” that were prominently displayed during the “We, Robot” event. The lawsuit marks the latest legal battle involving copyright issues in the realm of AI-generated content.