A lawsuit filed by a production company for Blade Runner 2049 against Tesla is set to go ahead.
Alcon Entertainment’s trademarks has accused the company of feeding images from the movie into an artificial intelligence image generator to create unlicenced promotional materials, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It also alleged that Warner Bros. Discovery facilitated the partnership.
It comes after Elon Musk unveiled what he called a “cybercab” at a promotion for Tesla and WBD last year before showing an image of a male figure wearing a trench coat 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.
One of the issues with the case 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.”
But, a court heard earlier this week that it would 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 the plaintiff to allege on information-and-belief that they made use of an AI image-generator to come up with the finished product,” US District Judge George Wu said.
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.”
Despite that, the court did dismiss 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.
The judge also stressed that Tesla and Alcon aren’t competitors, adding: “Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars. [The] Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business.”
The case comes after Australian filmmaker Alex Proyas recently called out Elon Musk for stealing his designs for a new line of Tesla robots.