Latest news with #BR2049
Euronews
11-04-2025
- Automotive
- Euronews
‘Blade Runner 2049' vs Elon Musk and Tesla case set to go ahead
ADVERTISEMENT A lawsuit filed by a production company for the film Blade Runner 2049 against Elon Musk's Tesla is set to go ahead. As we reported last year , Alcon Entertainment said in its lawsuit that Musk used AI-generated imagery mirroring scenes from its 2017 sci-fi film while presenting Tesla's new autonomous Robotaxi at a marketing event on 10 October. And the snag is that producers had denied his request to do so. 'He did it anyway,' the suit alleges, adding that the company did not want to be linked to Musk or his companies. "Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk's massively amplified, highly politicised, capricious and arbitrary behaviour, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account," it added. It also alleged that Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) facilitated the partnership. Above: Scene from Blade Runner 2049 - Below: AI generated clip from the Tesla Live presentation Warner Bros. Pictures - Tesla Live / X Earlier this week, a court pointed to Tesla's attempt to get permission to use Blade Runner 2049 for its event, which was denied just hours before the presentation was set to begin. 'Several similarities' between the promotional materials that Tesla used and stills from the movie that were allegedly infringed upon were also highlighted. 'Given the tight timeframe Musk and Tesla were working with in light of their last-minute request – and the resulting last-minute denial – to make use of BR2049, it is not at all implausible for the plaintiff to allege on information-and-belief that they made use of an AI image-generator to come up with the finished product,' said US District Judge George Wu. Although most copyright claims against Tesla were allowed to proceed, those against WBD were dismissed - except one for contributory infringement, which accused the studio of inducing the alleged misconduct. The court also agreed that the company wasn't responsible for overseeing Tesla's work in relation to the presentation, adding: 'There is nothing indicating that Warner had such a supervisory/controlling position or role vis a vis Tesla and Musk.'
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
‘Blade Runner 2049' vs Elon Musk and Tesla case set to go ahead
A lawsuit filed by a production company for the film Blade Runner 2049 against Elon Musk's Tesla is set to go ahead. As we reported last year, Alcon Entertainment said in its lawsuit that Musk used AI-generated imagery mirroring scenes from its 2017 sci-fi film while presenting Tesla's new autonomous Robotaxi at a marketing event on 10 October. And the snag is that producers had denied his request to do so. 'He did it anyway,' the suit alleges, adding that the company did not want to be linked to Musk or his companies. "Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk's massively amplified, highly politicised, capricious and arbitrary behaviour, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account," it added. It also alleged that Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) facilitated the partnership. Earlier this week, a court pointed to Tesla's attempt to get permission to use Blade Runner 2049 for its event, which was denied just hours before the presentation was set to begin. 'Several similarities' between the promotional materials that Tesla used and stills from the movie that were allegedly infringed upon were also highlighted. 'Given the tight timeframe Musk and Tesla were working with in light of their last-minute request – and the resulting last-minute denial – to make use of BR2049, it is not at all implausible for the plaintiff to allege on information-and-belief that they made use of an AI image-generator to come up with the finished product,' said US District Judge George Wu. Although most copyright claims against Tesla were allowed to proceed, those against WBD were dismissed - except one for contributory infringement, which accused the studio of inducing the alleged misconduct. The court also agreed that the company wasn't responsible for overseeing Tesla's work in relation to the presentation, adding: 'There is nothing indicating that Warner had such a supervisory/controlling position or role vis a vis Tesla and Musk.'
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
‘Blade Runner' Suit Against Tesla And Warner Bros. Can Proceed, Federal Judge Rules, But Defendants Succeed In Narrowing Scope
A lawsuit by Blade Runner 2049 production company Alcon Entertainment against Tesla and Warner Bros. over the use of images from the film at a promotional event can proceed, a federal judge has ruled. The scope of the complaint, however, was narrowed in a ruling late Monday by Judge George Wu in the U.S. District Court of Central California. (Read the ruling HERE.) Wu sided with the defendants by dismissing several of Alcon's claims and ordering the narrower complaint to go to mediation. Still pending are Alcon's charge of copyright infringement, which stems from the use of images from the sci-fi sequel starring Ryan Gosling to train AI tools involved in generating materials for Tesla. More from Deadline Volatile Stocks Reverse Rally, End Lower Amid Trump Tariffs; China Vows "Fight To The End" Redbox, Crackle And Other Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment Assets Set For Post-Bankruptcy Auction Trading Jabs About The Trade War: Elon Musk Bashes Peter Navarro As Tariff Tiff Divides Trump Allies Alcon sued Warner Bros. and Tesla last October after the automaker's 'We Robot' event on the Warner lot in Burbank, insisting that the companies had ignored its refusal of a request to incorporate the film's visuals. Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic, was distributed by Warner Bros. Alcon maintains that it refused a request from the studio to use images from the film. Attorneys for the company said executives had made it clear that 'under no circumstances' could there by 'any affiliation' between the film and the Elon Musk-run automaker. The crux of the production firm's objection was Musk's 'massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech.' Despite that directive, an 11-second slide appeared during Tesla's presentation, with Musk specifically alluding to the sci-fi property in a voiceover. Tesla and Warner Bros. have insisted, as Wu noted in his ruling, that Alcon 'cannot show substantial similarity between its copyrighted work and the 'We Robot' presentation or the 11-second slide used therein.' Wu noted that the request for permission was made on the same day as the Tesla event, giving Alcon little time to respond. 'Given the tight timeframe Musk and Tesla were working with in light of their last-minute request – and the resulting last-minute denial – to make use of BR2049, it is not at all implausible for plaintiff to allege on information and belief that they made use of an AI image-generator to come up with the finishedproduct,' Wu wrote. 'In addition, the images are not so different that the Court can conclude Tesla and Musk could not possibly have literally copied in the manner so-alleged. Thus, each of Tesla's and Musk's timely-raised limited arguments regarding the 'literal copying' theory fail.' Best of Deadline Sean "Diddy" Combs: An Updated Timeline Of Charges, Allegations & Consequences The Rap Mogul Faces A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Round One of ‘Blade Runner 2049' Legal Battle Over AI Images Goes to Warner Bros. and Elon Musk
A federal judge has narrowed the scope of a lawsuit from a production company for Blade Runner 2049 accusing Tesla of feeding images from the movie into an artificial intelligence image generator to create unlicensed promotional materials and Warner Bros. Discovery of facilitating the partnership. U.S. District Judge George Wu on Monday dismissed allegations that Alcon Entertainment's trademarks were violated while allowing some copyright claims to proceed. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'SNL' Mocks Trump's Tariff Plan and Mike Myers Returns as Elon Musk to Joke About "Self-Vandalizing" Teslas 25th Hour: Why Cory Booker's Speech Was the Screen Performance of the Year Long Before Cory Booker, Patton Oswalt Delivered an Epic Star Wars Filibuster on 'Parks and Recreation' Tesla's partnership with WBD to promote its robotaxi at a glitzy unveiling, which was done from a studio lot, last year sparked the lawsuit. At the presentation, Elon Musk reached the stage in what he called a 'cybercab' before showing an image of a male figure wearing a trench coat who's surveying the abandoned ruins of a city bathed in a misty, orange light. Alcon alleged that the image was intended to be understood as an actual still from Blade Runner 2049's sequence of Ryan Gosling's character exploring a ruined Las Vegas. Among the novel questions the case asks is whether the creation of a visual by an AI image generator by copying a portion of a copyrighted work without a license constitutes copyright infringement. Tesla argued that the claim shouldn't be advanced because Alcon's allegations are only based 'on information and belief.' In Monday's order, the court said that it'd be premature to dismiss the claim. It pointed to Tesla's attempt to get permission to use Blade Runner 2049 for its event, which was denied just hours before the presentation was set to begin, as well as 'several similarities' between the promotional materials that Tesla used and stills from the movie that were allegedly infringed upon. 'Given the tight timeframe Musk and Tesla were working with in light of their last-minute request – and the resulting last-minute denial – to make use of BR2049, it is not at all implausible for Plaintiff to allege on information-and-belief that they made use of an AI image-generator to come up with the finished product,' Wu wrote. While most copyright claims against Tesla were allowed to proceed, those against WBD were dismissed except one for contributory infringement, which accuses the studio of inducing the alleged misconduct. The court agreed with the company that wasn't responsible for overseeing Tesla's work in relation to the presentation. 'There is nothing indicating that Warner had such a supervisory/controlling position or role vis a vis Tesla and Musk,' stated the order. And in a win for Tesla and WBD, the court dismissed a claim for an alleged violation of the Lanham Act, a federal trademark law that bars false association. Although Musk said 'Blade Runner' during his presentation, he didn't mislead viewers as to the source of the movie, according to the ruling. Wu also stressed that Tesla and Alcon aren't competitors. 'Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars,' the judge wrote. 'Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business.' The court said it'd likely allow Alcon to fix its copyright claims but not those alleging violations of the Lanham Act, finding that such 'amendments would be futile.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
