Elon Musk could be back in the courtroom again – this time for infringing on Blade Runner 2049’s copyright.
Alcon Entertainment, the producers behind the 2017 science fiction film, have launched a lawsuit in Los Angeles against Musk and his company Tesla. It claims Musk illegally used images from the movie at the launch of his new robotaxi earlier this month.
Why is Elon Musk being sued?
The 40-page court document outlines how Tesla, Musk, and Warner Bros (the launch event took place on its lot) broke Alcon’s copyright. The company claims that it was asked permission to use a still from the film at the event.
“Alcon refused all permissions and adamantly objected to Defendants suggesting any affiliation between BR2049 and Tesla, Musk, or any Musk-owned company,” it states.
However, it claims that the image and others from the movie were fed to an AI image generator. The generated picture was then shown for 11 seconds at the start of the event – or what it calls “a marketing and advertising eternity”.
Musk apparently went on to discuss the robotaxi in relation to the futuristic world of Blade Runner 2049. The launch was also livestreamed on X and clips have been shared thousands of times, meaning it has reached potentially millions of people.
Alcon not pleased with Musk association
The production company is not happy to be linked with Musk. The document highlights his “massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech”.
It added: “Beyond Alcon’s lost fees for the unauthorized association, Defendants muddied the waters for Alcon’s in-progress exploration of automotive brand partnerships for the upcoming BR2049-based Blade Runner 2099 television series.”
This is the second time Musk has managed to anger the film industry this month. Alex Proyas, the creator of I, Robot, posted a comparison of his movie and Tesla designs on X. “Hey Elon, can I have my designs back please?” he wrote.
Feature image credit: YouTube