Musk sued by creator of Blade Runner 2049 over ‘We, Robot’ copyright

The creators of Blade Runner 2049 are suing Elon Musk and Tesla. The lawsuit alleges that iconic images from the movie were stolen to promote Musk’s new electric vehicles.

Alcon Entertainment, the creator of Blade Runner 2049, has sued Musk, Tesla, and Warner Bros Discovery, alleging that these three committed direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, and false endorsement.

The American indie film and television production company claims that their designs were used without permission to promote Musk’s Cybercab at the ‘We, Robot’ event held at Warner Brothers Discovery’s Burbank, California studio on October 10th, 2024.

The lawsuit alleges that Tesla, Musk, and Warner Bros Discovery asked Alcon Entertainment if they could use their “iconic still image” from Alcon’s Blade Runner 2049 to promote the Cybercab, which they asked for on the same day as the ‘We, Robot’ event.

The lawsuit states that Alcon Entertainment didn’t approve the request and “adamantly objected” to any affiliation between Blade Runner 2049 and Tesla, Musk, or any Musk-owned company.

Despite Alcon’s outright denial, the production company claims that Tesla, Musk, and Warner Bros Discovery knowingly created “apparently AI-generated” images that looked almost identical to the iconic image in Blade Runner 2049.

Apparently, those involved fed AI model images from Blade Runner 2049’s dramatic core, which then generated very similar images of a Musk-like figure standing in a desolate scene looking out onto a flurry of skyscrapers.

According to the lawsuit found by the BBC, Musk and Tesla featured this falsified Blade Runner-esque image on the second slide of his presentation, which was live-streamed right before Musk’s Cybercab sales pitch.

Musk then awkwardly explained to the audience why he was showing them a picture of Blade Runner 2049 when he should’ve been talking about his new Cybercab.

Alcon Entertainment said that “Musk ostensibly invited the global audience to think about the Cybercab’s possibilities in juxtaposition to Blade Runner 2049’s fictional future.”

Reuters reported that roughly four million people witnessed the ‘We, Robot’ event on Musk’s platform X alone. The video version of the event also amassed two million views on YouTube.

On the left is an image from Blade Runner 2049. On the right is one from Elon Musk's robitaxi event. The makers are now suing Musk, Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery for copyright infringement. pic.twitter.com/XsHiviaAm7

undefined Winter is Coming (@WiCnet) October 21, 2024

Yet, Alcon Entertainment claims that this attempt “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.”

Alcon Entertainment isn’t the only one accusing Musk of stealing designs used in the ‘We, Robot’ event.

Alex Proyas said, “Hey Elon, can I have my designs back, please?” in an X post that garnered almost eight million views.

The Australian film director alleges that Musk stole his designs from the hit 2004 Sci-Fi movie ‘I, Robot,’ starring Will Smith.

The designs in question were featured in Musk’s latest event, ‘We, Robot,’ which sounds eerily similar to the title of Proyas hit film.