Alcon settles Warner Bros. Discovery claim over Blade Runner AI image
Alcon continues pursuing its copyright case against Tesla and Elon Musk over the same AI-generated image
Alcon Entertainment, the production company behind Blade Runner 2049, has settled its claim against Warner Bros. Discovery over AI-generated promotional images, according to the outlet. A court filing said simply, "Alcon and WBD have reached a settlement," with terms undisclosed.
The dispute began after Tesla's 2024 robotaxi unveiling, held on a Warner Bros. Discovery studio lot, where Elon Musk showed an image Alcon alleged was meant to evoke an actual still from Blade Runner 2049's ruined Las Vegas sequence. Alcon said it did not want the film associated with Musk given his political and social views, citing ongoing talks with potential partners for an upcoming TV series.
Alcon had brought direct and contributory copyright infringement claims against Warner Bros. Discovery; the direct infringement claim was dismissed after the court found the studio was not responsible for overseeing Tesla's work on the presentation. Lawyers for both companies moved to dismiss claims against the studio in September. Alcon is continuing its lawsuit against Tesla and Musk, who have argued the image's use was fair use; neither company immediately responded to requests for comment, according to the outlet.
Here's the part worth sitting with: the copyright claim against the studio itself was dismissed before this settlement ever happened, with the court finding Warner Bros. Discovery wasn't responsible for overseeing Tesla's work. The case against Tesla and Musk is still alive, and it's the one asking the real question — does feeding a copyrighted film into an AI generator to make a promotional image count as infringement, or is it fair use. No ruling on that yet. Watch this one; it's the question every author with a visual or film property should want answered correctly.
From the Coral Wire edition of Fri, Nov 6 2026 · Coral Index 28/100 (Storm warning)