In April, a 2024 lawsuit involving Tesla, Warner Bros., and Alcon Entertainment—producer of the 2017 film Blade Runner 2049—sparked intrigue among sci-fi fans. Now, a new development has shifted momentum in favor of Warner Bros. The legal dispute centers on promotional visuals used during Tesla’s October 2024 event, where imagery strikingly similar to stills from Blade Runner 2049 appeared in the background of a presentation showcasing the company’s upcoming robotaxi, dubbed the “Cybercab.” Alcon Entertainment, which owns the rights to the Blade Runner franchise and is developing the upcoming Prime Video series Blade Runner 2099, claims it had explicitly requested that Warner Bros., the film’s distributor and a partner in the Tesla event, prohibit the use of Blade Runner 2049 visuals. Despite this request, Alcon alleges that Tesla bypassed the restriction by feeding the copyrighted stills into an AI image generator, which then produced the visuals used in the presentation. The lawsuit raises complex legal questions, particularly around whether training or using AI models on copyrighted material—such as film stills—without permission constitutes copyright infringement. As the Hollywood Reporter notes, this remains an unresolved issue in ongoing legal debates over AI and intellectual property. In a recent court decision, two claims were dismissed: one seeking to hold Warner Bros. Discovery liable for Tesla’s use of the images, and another alleging that the studio had a duty to prevent the infringement. However, Warner Bros. Discovery still faces a claim of contributory infringement, which argues that the studio facilitated Tesla’s alleged misconduct by allowing access to its assets or failing to enforce the usage restrictions. The case comes amid a broader wave of legal challenges in Hollywood over AI-generated content. Earlier this month, Warner Bros. joined Disney and Universal in filing a lawsuit against Midjourney, accusing the AI image generator of widespread copyright violations by training on copyrighted characters and artwork without authorization. Alcon Entertainment now has one final opportunity to amend its claims related to direct and vicarious copyright infringement. While the outcome remains uncertain, the case has already prompted Warner Bros. Discovery to take a more proactive stance in protecting its intellectual property from AI misuse. As generative AI becomes increasingly embedded in media production, studios are scrambling to define boundaries—and legal protections—for the use of their creative assets in the digital age.