Movie and tv studio Alcon Entertainment on Monday sued Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery over claims they used images tied to the film “Blade Runner 2049” to advertise Tesla’s recent autonomous cybercab.
Alcon’s California federal lawsuit alleged violations of US copyright law and accused Tesla of “false endorsement” for suggesting a relationship between Alcon and the Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle maker.
“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, under consideration,” the lawsuit said.
Tesla and Warner Bros. didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Warner Bros was Alcon’s distributor for “Blade Runner 2049”, which won two 2018 Academy Awards and starred Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford within the highly anticipated sequel to the 1982 cult classic “Blade Runner.”
Alcon said it had refused a request from Warner Bros. to make use of images from the firm for Tesla’s Oct. 10 live-streamed cybercab unveiling. Tesla then used images created with artificial intelligence that mirrored the movie for its cybercab event, the lawsuit said.
In a press release, Alcon said the defendants’ “conduct is more likely to cause confusion amongst Alcon’s ‘Blade Runner’ brand partner customers, including those it’s partnering with for its upcoming ‘Blade Runner 2099’ series for Amazon Prime.”
The lawsuit didn’t name specific damages but said Alcon had spent tons of of tens of millions of dollars constructing the Blade Runner 2049 brand, and said the “financial magnitude of the misappropriation here was substantial.”
Movie and tv studio Alcon Entertainment on Monday sued Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery over claims they used images tied to the film “Blade Runner 2049” to advertise Tesla’s recent autonomous cybercab.
Alcon’s California federal lawsuit alleged violations of US copyright law and accused Tesla of “false endorsement” for suggesting a relationship between Alcon and the Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle maker.
“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, under consideration,” the lawsuit said.
Tesla and Warner Bros. didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Warner Bros was Alcon’s distributor for “Blade Runner 2049”, which won two 2018 Academy Awards and starred Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford within the highly anticipated sequel to the 1982 cult classic “Blade Runner.”
Alcon said it had refused a request from Warner Bros. to make use of images from the firm for Tesla’s Oct. 10 live-streamed cybercab unveiling. Tesla then used images created with artificial intelligence that mirrored the movie for its cybercab event, the lawsuit said.
In a press release, Alcon said the defendants’ “conduct is more likely to cause confusion amongst Alcon’s ‘Blade Runner’ brand partner customers, including those it’s partnering with for its upcoming ‘Blade Runner 2099’ series for Amazon Prime.”
The lawsuit didn’t name specific damages but said Alcon had spent tons of of tens of millions of dollars constructing the Blade Runner 2049 brand, and said the “financial magnitude of the misappropriation here was substantial.”
