Alcon Entertainment, the production company behind Blade Runner 2049, has reached a settlement with Warner Bros. Discovery in a copyright dispute tied to artificial intelligence-generated images used to promote Tesla's robotaxi.
Alcon and Warner Bros. Discovery informed the court that they had agreed to resolve the case. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. "Alcon and WBD have reached a settlement," the filing stated.
The litigation stems from a 2024 unveiling event held on a studio lot, where Tesla partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to promote its robotaxi. At the presentation, Elon Musk arrived on stage in a vehicle he called a "cybercab" before displaying an image of a male figure in a trench coat surveying the abandoned ruins of a city bathed in a misty, orange light.
Alcon alleged that the image was designed to read as an actual still from a Blade Runner 2049 sequence in which Ryan Gosling's character explores a ruined Las Vegas. The company said it did not want the film associated with Musk because of his political and social views, noting that it is in ongoing discussions with potential partners about an upcoming television series.
The production company had accused Warner Bros. Discovery of both direct and contributory copyright infringement, the latter covering situations where a party knowingly assists another in committing infringement. The direct infringement claim was dismissed after the court concluded the studio was not responsible for supervising Tesla's work on the presentation.
Attorneys for Alcon and Warner Bros. Discovery moved in September to dismiss the claims against the studio. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The broader case raises a novel legal question: whether using a portion of a copyrighted work without a license to create an image with an AI generator amounts to copyright infringement.
Tesla and Musk have argued that the practice qualifies as fair use, the legal doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without a license. They have emphasized that Musk drew on the Blade Runner 2049 imagery to underscore the value of autonomous vehicles by criticizing the "dark and dismal" dystopian future shown in the promotional material.
"I believe we want that duster he's wearing, but not the, uh, not the bleak apocalypse," Musk said at the presentation.
Alcon's lawsuit against Tesla and Musk remains active even as the claim against Warner Bros. Discovery comes to a close.
