‘Blade Runner 2049’ producer sues Tesla, Warner Bros over AI images

By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) – Movie and television studio Alcon (NYSE:) Entertainment on Monday sued Tesla (NASDAQ:) and Warner Bros Discovery (NASDAQ:) 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 U.S. 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 politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account,” the lawsuit said.

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 (NYSE:) 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 Oct. 10 live-streamed cybercab unveiling. Tesla then used images created with artificial intelligence that mirrored the movie for its cybercab event, the lawsuit said.

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 (NASDAQ:) 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.”