Movie and television studio Alcon Entertainment sued Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday, claiming they used images associated with the movie “Blade Runner 2049” for promotion. Tesla’s new autonomous CyberCab,
Alcon’s California Federal trial Accused Tesla of “false endorsement” for allegedly violating US copyright law and suggesting a connection between Alcon and the Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle maker.
“Any prudent brand considering a Tesla partnership would need to take into account Musk’s widely publicized, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which at times bordered on hate speech,” the lawsuit says. “
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 stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in the highly anticipated sequel to the 1982 cult classic “Blade Runner.”
Alcon said it had declined Warner Bros.’s request to use the company’s images for Tesla’s October 10 live-streamed Cybercab unveiling. Tesla then used images created by artificial intelligence that mirrored the film cybercab incidentThe lawsuit states.
In a statement, Alcon said the defendants’ “conduct is likely to cause confusion among Alcon’s ‘Blade Runner’ brand partner customers, including customers who partner with Amazon Prime for its upcoming ‘Blade Runner 2099’ series. are also included.”
The lawsuit did not name specific damages, but said that Alcon had spent millions of dollars building the Blade Runner 2049 brand, and that “the financial magnitude of the misappropriation here was substantial.”
