If you hear the words “Tesla is going to be involved in a Blade Runner lawsuit,” you’ll probably think Optimus has finally risen up and declared war on humanity. Fortunately, we’re all safe; the case is actually down to an alleged copyright cock-up.
According to Reuters, the lawsuit relates to a claim that Elon Musk’s company misused imagery from the movie Blade Runner 2049 when promoting the Cybercab. Tesla’s legal team sought to have a California judge dismiss the case, but the judge found merit in the suit and allowed it to proceed.
Alcon, the company that produced the 2017 movie, claims that Warner Bros. (which distributed the movie) initially approached it with a request to use imagery from the movie during its 2024 Cybercab launch. Alcon said no.
The suit claims that Tesla then went on to use AI-generated images similar to Blade Runner 2049. As a result, Alcon is suing Tesla, Warner, and Musk.
This isn’t the actual lawsuit, and don’t grab the popcorn just yet
The ruling doesn’t mean Alcon has won. It just means a judge sees merit in the claim and has refused Tesla’s and Musk’s request to have the case thrown out. The judge believes Tesla has failed to address the claim it “copied” the film by feeding it into an AI generator. Which incidentally may make this a pioneering bit of case law on AI and copyright, in addition to everything else.
U.S. District Judge George Wu, the same judge who refused to dismiss the suit above, dismissed some charges Alcon laid against Musk, Tesla, and Warner last year. However, what’s left of the case will now have to be settled one way or another.
Realistically, it’s going to go one of two ways. Musk’s lawyers can agree on damages with Alcon and settle out of court, or it moves to a process called “discovery,” where both sides hand over their evidence for review. If the latter happens, the case goes to trial, and a judge (or possibly a jury) then decides the outcome.
Musk is no stranger to the inside of a courtroom. There was a point in 2024 when he had 23 active lawsuits. In recent years, his legal battles have included a libel case stemming from the time he called a diver who rescued 12 trapped children a “pedo guy,” numerous run-ins with the SEC, and the drama surrounding his purchase of Twitter. The world’s richest man has also faced legal challenges regarding his Tesla pay packages, the latest of which could total up to a trillion dollars.
Will Musk’s robots kill us all?
As for a potential Tesla-led replicant uprising, that isn’t off the table either. Tesla recently ditched the Model S and Model X and dedicated the freed-up capacity to the production of its Optimus robots. Musk has previously claimed the robots will cost less than $30,000 and could be up for sale as early as this year – though many believe late 2027 is a more realistic estimate.
Initial sales are likely going to be aimed at the enterprise sector, though the public will be able to purchase the bots soon after. Musk claims that Optimus will be able to do everything from folding shirts and washing dishes to performing surgery. As for rising up and killing us all, that isn’t on the agenda. Given how things have gone with Grok, however, it might be worth keeping an EMP charged.
