Alcon Entertainment, LLC filed a lawsuit against Tesla, Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, on Monday, October 1, 2024, concerning an AI-generated fake image used to promote Tesla’s new fully autonomous cybercab.
Alcon is an independent movie and television studio. The studio produced the movie Blade Runner 2049 and owns the related copyright, trademarks, and brand. Blade Runner 2049 was nominated for five Academy Awards and won for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Warner Bros. distributed the Blade Runner 2049 movie on behalf of Alcon.
Alcon’s complaint alleges that Tesla and Warner Bros. requested permission to use a still image from the movie to promote Tesla’s cybercab at its October 10, 2024 event. Alcon denied this request “and adamantly objected to Defendants suggesting any affiliation between [the movie] and Tesla, Musk or any Musk-owned company.” The complaint claims that Tesla then fed the image into an AI-driven image generator and instructed the generator to “make a lightly stylized fake screen still from [Blade Runner 2049].”
This new image was then used in a presentation at Tesla’s event, “displaying it full screen on the livestream feed for 11 seconds.” The complaint goes on to state that “Musk tried awkwardly” to explain why he was showing a picture of Blade Runner 2049 when talking about the cybercab. The complaint states that Musk asked the audience to think about the cybercab’s possibilities in contrast with the fictional future of the movie. “But it all exuded an odor of thinly contrived excuse to link Tesla’s cybercab to strong Hollywood brands at a time when Tesla and Musk are on the outs with Hollywood.”
The complaint claims that the financial impact of the misappropriation is substantial. “Alcon has spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars building the BR2049 brand into the famous mark that it now is.” Previous contracts with automotive brands “have had dollar price tags in the eight figures.” Alcon is currently negotiating with automotive brands for partnerships on future Blade Runner 2049-based content. The misappropriation in question, Alcon alleges, “is likely to cause confusion among Alcon’s potential brand partner customers.”
Alcon’s complaint continues on to state that “[a]ny 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.” Alcon did not want to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company for these reasons. Tesla’s livestream of its event “was re-tweeted or re-posted by Tesla, Musk, X and others thousands of times, with millions of total views.” Alcon claims that this false affiliation amplifies the damage and confusion risks. “This was and is all highly offensive to Alcon’s right to commercial and cultural self-determination. It was also a massive economic theft.”
The complaint claims (1) direct copyright infringement; (2) vicarious copyright infringement; (3) contributory copyright infringement; (4) and false endorsement.
Additional Reading
‘Blade Runner 2049’ producer sues Tesla, Warner Bros over AI images, Reuters (October 21, 2024)
Alcon Entertainment, LLC v. Tesla, Inc. et al (Case No. 2:2024cv09033)
Complaint in Alcon Entertainment, LLC v. Tesla, Inc. et al
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