'Blade Runner 2049' Producer Sues Tesla, Warner Bros Over AI Images

The lawsuit has been filed in California, US.

By Reuters | Updated: 22 October 2024 13:39 IST

'Blade Runner 2049' Producer Sues Tesla, Warner Bros Over AI Images

Photo Credit: Reuters

The lawsuit said that the financial magnitude of the misappropriation was substantial

Highlights

Alcon said it had refused a request from Warner Bros to use images
Tesla used images created with AI that mirrored the movie for cybercab
Alcon has blamed Tesla of false endorsement

Movie and television studio Alcon Entertainment on Monday sued Tesla and Warner Bros Discovery over claims they used images tied to the film “Blade Runner 2049” to promote Tesla's new autonomous cybercab.

Alcon's California federal lawsuit alleged violations of US copyright law and accused Tesla of “false endorsement” for suggesting 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 behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account,” the lawsuit said.

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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 highly anticipated sequel to the 1982 cult classic Blade Runner.

Alcon said it had refused a request from Warner Bros to use images from the firm for Tesla's October 10 live-streamed cybercab unveiling. Tesla then used images created with Artificial Intelligence (AI) that mirrored the movie for its cybercab event, the lawsuit said.

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

The lawsuit did not name 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

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Read Review

Blade Runner 2049

Release Date 6 October 2017
Language English
Genre Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Cast
Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Lennie James, Dave Bautista, Jared Leto
Director
Denis Villeneuve
Producer
Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Bud Yorkin, Cynthia Sikes Yorkin

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