LogInAI won't save him from copyright infringement. (Or will it?)
Here is a story about how Elon Musk wanted to use an image from Blade Runner 2049 in Tesla's new Cybercab presentation and got sued. Let's take it step by step.
A day before Tesla's presentation of its fully autonomous Robotaxi on the Warner Bros. Discovery lot, WBD asked Alcon Entertainment, the production company behind Blade Runner 2049, for permission to use images and clips from the movie. The Co-CEO Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson "refused WBD’s request, objecting to their film being affiliated in any way with Tesla, Musk or any Musk-owned company," according to Variety.
WBD wasn't too discouraged and allegedly used AI to generate these images itself. In response, Alcon filed a lawsuit against WBD, Tesla, and Musk, accusing them of direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement, and false endorsement, as the outlet reported.
The image Tesla used
Alcon said it was strongly against Blade Runner 2049 being affiliated with "Tesla, X, Musk or any Musk-owned company."
Alcon seeks to block Musk, Tesla, WBD and "anyone working in concert with them from further copying, displaying, distributing, selling or offering to sell ‘BR2049’ or protectible elements thereof in connection with Tesla or Musk, or making derivative works thereof for such purposes." And monetary damages, of course.
"The financial magnitude of the misappropriation here was substantial," the lawsuit said (via Variety). "Alcon has spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars building the ‘BR2049’ brand into the famous mark that it now is. Prior actual ‘BR2049’ contracts linking automotive brands to the Picture have had dollar price tags in the eight figures."
Alcon claims Tesla and Musk asked WBD for permission and rights to use this image:
Alcon Entertainment
Does the final result look alike?
"Musk personally became aware of Alcon’s permission denials," the company continues. "He thus personally knew and understood that to incorporate ‘BR2049’ into the event presentation at all would be improper and an unauthorized misappropriation of ‘BR2049’ goodwill," the lawsuit says. "He did it anyway."
Aside from the copyright issue, there is "the problematic Musk himself."
"Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account. If, as here, a company or its principals do not actually agree with Musk’s extreme political and social views, then a potential brand affiliation with Tesla is even more issue fraught."
The Blade Runner 2049 image in the autonomous car presentation is no big surprise considering the context, although Musk said he wasn't sure "we want that future."
"I think we want that duster he's wearing, but not the bleak apocalypse," he shared (via PC Gamer). Did he really need a BR2049 picture for this, so bad that he was willing to risk a lawsuit?
Well, AI laws are still in their infancy, and there is no guarantee Alcon will win the case. Is it a plain copy or is it art? I guess the outcome will help the world move in a certain direction.
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