Judge orders Blade Runner 2049 copyright suit against Tesla to trial
Alcon Entertainment sued Elon Musk and Tesla for using AI-generated images resembling scenes from Blade Runner 2049 to promote the robotaxi without permission. A U.S. District Court judge ordered most copyright claims against Tesla to proceed to trial while dismissing most claims against Warner Bros.
What happened
Alcon Entertainment sued Elon Musk and Tesla in October 2024, alleging they used AI-generated images that reflected scenes from the film Blade Runner 2049 to promote Tesla's robotaxi at a marketing event on October 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Alcon had denied a request from Musk and the other defendants to use actual images from the film. The AI-generated promotional material reportedly resembled a famous scene from the film in which the character K, played by Ryan Gosling, explores an abandoned Las Vegas in a post-apocalyptic setting.
Reported impact
Alcon states that the company did not want to be associated with Musk or Tesla and claimed that Musk's behavior is amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary.
The court noted several similarities between the promotional materials Tesla used and frames from the film alleged to be plagiarized.
Index analysis
The judge noted that given the narrow timeframe in which Musk and Tesla worked after their last-minute request—denied hours before the presentation—it was not implausible that they used an AI image generator to create the final product.
Most copyright claims against Tesla were admitted, while those against Warner Bros. were dismissed except for one count of indirect infringement.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.