--- title: "Producers of “Blade Runner 2049” Sue Elon Musk for Dragging Their Movie Into Tesla’s Disastrous Robotaxi Event" description: "The production company behind the sci-fi blockbuster \"Blade Runner 2049\" is suing Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk for copyright infringement." date: "2024-10-22" modified: "2024-10-22" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/producers-blade-runner-2049-sue-elon-musk" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "blade runner" - "copyright infringement" - "elon musk" - "robotaxi" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Producers of “Blade Runner 2049” Sue Elon Musk for Dragging Their Movie Into Tesla’s Disastrous Robotaxi Event ![The production company behind the sci-fi blockbuster "Blade Runner 2049" is suing Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk for copyright infringement.]() *\Image: Tesla / Warner Bros.\* ## Ripped Off The production company behind the sci-fi blockbuster "Blade Runner 2049" is suing Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk for copyright infringement. In the [lawsuit](), the company asserts that AI-generated stills used in promotional material related to Tesla's "We, Robot" event — the site of the [disastrous debut]() of its robotaxi project — were clearly ripping off the movie. The production company, which is called Alcon Entertainment, didn't beat around the bush while actively distancing itself from Musk and his [abrasive](), [racist antics](). "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 reads. ## Malicious Gambit Worse yet, Alcon — and Warner Bros Discovery, which is joining it as a plaintiff — allege that Tesla asked for permission to use a "Blade Runner 2049" still but was turned down, suggesting the EV maker knowingly infringed on the company's copyright by bastardizing its own version using an AI image generator. The image "was clearly intended to read visually either as an actual still image from ‘BR2049’s iconic sequence of \[protagonist\] K exploring the ruined Las Vegas, or as a minimally stylized copy of one," Alcon alleges. According to the lawsuit, Musk "personally became aware of Alcon’s permission denials and express objections" to using the images, but "did it anyway." In short, it sounds bad for Tesla. And given Musk's [well-documented]() infatuation for science fiction, the accusations are bound to sting. The billionaire has long [professed his love for the "Blade Runner" franchise](), often [invoking it]() when discussing the company's divisive Cybertruck. ## Bad Faith Tesla's "We, Robot" event saw the company [show off an early prototype]() of its "Cybercab" robotaxi — which, as far as we can tell, is currently more of a [pipe dream than an actual production vehicle](). "It was hardly coincidental that the only specific Hollywood film which Musk actually discussed to pitch his new, fully autonomous, AI-driven cybercab was ‘BR2049’ — a film which just happens to feature a strikingly designed, artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car throughout the story," Alcon wrote in its lawsuit. "This was clearly all a bad faith and intentionally malicious gambit by Defendants to make the otherwise stilted and stiff content of the joint WBD-Tesla event more attractive to the global audience and to misappropriate ‘BR2049’s brand to help sell Teslas," the document reads. It's not just Alcon, either. Alex Proyas, the director behind the 2004 sci-fi blockbuster "I, Robot," also [accused Musk]() of ripping off his ideas, [tweeting]() "Hey Elon, can I have my designs back please?" **More on Tesla:** *[Moron Shoots Cybertruck, Alarmed to Discover It's Not Actually Bulletproof]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()