Warner Bros. Discovery Nears Win in ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Legal Battle Over Tesla’s AI Images

Some claims in a novel 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 alleged infringement, have been dismissed.

Tesla’s partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery 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 Entertainment, the production company, 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 unsettled legal 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.

In the order, the court dismissed claims seeking to hold Warner Bros. Discovery responsible for Tesla’s use of the photos. It said the accusation that the studio handed over high resolution images of the movie to the Musk-owned company for the event “isn’t supported by allegations.”

Another claim alleging that Warner Bros. Discovery had a duty to stop Tesla from infringing Alcon’s intellectual property was also not allowed to proceed. Alcon had directed the studio to stop Tesla from using images from Blade Runner 2049 at the event. Still, the request didn’t give it the ability to actually stop Tesla from doing so regardless of whether it responded in a way that Alcon understood to mean that it would honor the ask, according to the order.

“Allowing Musk and Tesla to ‘pick and choose’ content from a library does not amount to Warner having a right to stop, limit, or supervise” them,” Wu wrote in the ruling issued on Sept. 11.

Tesla was denied permission to use stills from Blade Runner 2049 for the event just hours before the presentations was set to begin. The lawsuit alleged that the company responded by feeding images of the movie into an AI image generator, undermining its intellectual property rights.

Also an obstacle for Alcon: it doesn’t appear that the studio or Tesla directly benefited from the alleged infringement, the order said.

Alcon will have one more chance to fix claims for direct and vicarious copyright infringement. Discovery may prove helpful with the company finding its footing on these allegations.

Warner Bros. Discovery still faces a claim for contributory infringement, which accuses the studio of facilitating the alleged misconduct. In April, the court denied Tesla’s bid to dismiss a claim for direct copyright infringement, pointing to “several similarities” between the promotional materials that Tesla used and stills from the movie that were allegedly infringed upon.

Part of Alcon’s motivations for continuing to pursue the lawsuit relates to an upcoming TV series based on the movie.

Asked what the company expects to win in the case at a hearing earlier this year, a lawyer for Alcon responded, “Part of what is happening here is my client” has to “make clear that it has distance from some of the parties involved here.”