Blade Runner 2049 Elon Musk Copyright Lawsuit Takes Off
Just six years ago, it seemed like Elon Musk could do no wrong, often being referred to as the real-life Tony Stark, a fun-loving billionaire who always seemed to say the right things and appeared to have a focus on advancing human technology in the 21st century. However, in what has seemed like a blink of an eye, Elon Musk has just about thrown away all of the goodwill that he had meticulously built up throughout his career, instead leaning hard into alt-right conspiracy theories and supporting reprehensible hate speech. On October 21, Alcon Entertainment cited those exact reasons for filing a Blade Runner 2049 copyright infringement lawsuit against Elon Musk, alleging that the billionaire used AI images based on scenes pulled straight from its sci-fi film and used them for the launch of Tesla’s self-driving Robotaxi.
Tesla Sued For Copyright Infringement
In a Los Angeles federal court, lawyers representing Alcon Entertainment filed the Blade Runner 2049 lawsuit against Elon Musk as well as Tesla, claiming copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, and false endorsement.
The film production company also sued Warner Bros. Discovery for allegedly facilitating the partnership, using one of their studio lots during the October 10 unveiling of Robotaxi. According to the lawsuit, during the presentation, Elon Musk pulled onto a stage in one of his proposed cabs before showing a sepia-rich image of a mysterious character donning a trendy trench coat scanning the nearby ruins of a deserted city.
Similar To Blade Runner 2049
The image that Elon Musk displayed was eerily reminiscent of the aesthetic shown in one very specific scene in Blade Runner 2024, which starred Ryan Gosling as K, a blade runner who sports a sleek trench coat and can be seen venturing through the ruins of Las Vegas, a city in the process of being reclaimed by the amber-colored desert.
According to Alcon Entertainment’s legal team, the publicity event was “clearly intended to read visually” as a scene from the film and to persuade attendees. “Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account,” the lawsuit reads. “Alcon did not want BR2049 to be affiliated with Musk.”
Musk Referenced The Movie
Alcon Entertainment maintains that despite never allowing Blade Runner 2049 licensing rights to Elon Musk and Tesla, the billionaire and his company attempted to give the impression that the film and the Robotaxi were intrinsically related. Alcon Entertainment also cited Elon Musk’s speech he made during his Robotaxi presentation, which made a direct reference to the film production company’s sci-fi franchise. “You know, I love Blade Runner, but I don’t know if we want that future,” Musk said. “I believe we want that duster he’s wearing, but not the, uh, not the bleak apocalypse.”
Distributor Had No Knowledge Beforehand
Warner Bros. Discovery was Alcon Entertainment’s domestic distributor for the 2017 release of Blade Runner 2049, but Alcon claims that while Warner Bros. Discovery does have limited clip licensing rights, those rights weren’t carried over to Elon Musk’s promotional event. In fact, Alcon Entertainment says that the company was not informed of Elon Musk and Warner Bros. Discovery’s use of the film’s aesthetic until the day of the promotional event.
More Shady AI Usage
According to the lawsuit, Elon Musk had communicated with Warner Bros. Discovery about his intention to use Blade Runner 2049 during the event, which caused an employee from Warner Bros. Discovery to contact Alcon Entertainment for approval.
When that approval was denied, Elon Musk and his team allegedly used AI-generated imagery to closely resemble the look and tone of Blade Runner 2049. In its lawsuit, Alcon Entertainment is seeking unspecified damages as well as a court order to prevent Tesla from using any likeliness from the film for future marketing purposes.
Source: Variety
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