AI, Sci-Fi, and Copyright Collide in Alcon Entertainment LLC v. Tesla Inc. et al., Case No. 2:24-cv-09033, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
In a fascinating twist of sci-fi meets reality, Tesla and Elon Musk are caught in a legal battle over an alleged AI-generated image that might have borrowed too heavily from “Blade Runner 2049.” Read the backstory in Lights, Camera, Lawsuit: Musk and Tesla in Hot Water Over Claimed “Blade Runner” Rip-Off.
Filed by Alcon Entertainment in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Alcon Entertainment LLC v. Tesla Inc. et al., Case No. 2:24-cv-09033, hinges on a single image Musk used to promote Tesla’s autonomous taxicab. Alcon Entertainment, which produced “Blade Runner 2049,” claims Tesla used AI to create a knockoff of a scene showing Ryan Gosling's character “K” with his futuristic vehicle. The timing couldn’t be more ironic - a dispute over AI-generated content in a case involving a film about artificial beings.
Following filing, Plaintiff Alcon Entertainment filed an Amended Complaint. Musk and Tesla promptly filed a Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff filed an Opposition, to which Musk and Tesla Replied. On April 4, 2025, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu just made some interesting calls on the case in his Tentative Rulings – before oral argument on Musk and Tesla’s Motion to Dismiss. Following oral argument on April 7, 2025, Judge Wu entered his Minute Entry, granting Musk and Tesla’s Motion in part and denying it in part. He kept the copyright infringement claim against Tesla and Musk alive while dismissing some other claims. The judge’s decision turned on a subtle but crucial legal point: this isn’t about whether two images look similar, but whether Tesla directly copied and modified the original through AI.
The judge, seemingly tired of the legal theatrics, discussed the prospect of settlement and gave the parties 21 days to mediate. The case perfectly captures our current moment: a lawsuit about AI-generated content, involving a movie about artificial intelligence, filed against a company pushing the boundaries of autonomous technology. Sometimes reality is indeed stranger than science fiction.
Stay tuned as we’ll be watching this one, and will bring you all the latest updates.
*Tesla is a registered Trademark of Tesla, Inc. The Tesla photograph is trademark and copyright protected subject to fair use.
