The producers of the 2017 sci-fi thriller ‘Blade Runner 2049′ sued Tesla, Elon Musk, and Warner Bros Discovery in federal court.
In the lawsuit, Alcon Entertainment, a Hollywood production company, claimed that they utilized pictures from the film to promote Tesla’s robotaxi without permission.
The company said that it had previously declined Warner Bros’ request to use film footage at the unveiling of the robotaxi.
Alcon further claimed that Tesla employed artificial intelligence (AI) to develop advertising graphics based on the video despite its objection.
The lawsuit referred to the act as a “economic theft” that resulted in a “false affiliation” between the film and Tesla, Musk.
It further stated that Alcon did not want to be associated with “problematic” Musk due to his “extreme political and social views”.
“Beyond these more ordinary commercial issues, there is the problematic Musk himself,” the suit reads in part.
“Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavioral, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.
“If, as here, a company or its principals do not actually agree with Musk’s extreme political and social views, then a potential brand affiliation with Tesla is even more issue fraught.
“Alcon did not want BR2049 to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
Warner Bros was the distributor of ‘Blade Runner 2049’ when it was released in 2017.
However, Alcon claimed Warner does not own the copyright to ‘Blade Runner 2049’.
‘Blade Runner 2049’ is a sequel to the 1982 ‘Blade Runner’.
It starred Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas and Jared Leto, and won two Academy Awards.