A big Hollywood outfit with a futuristic blockbuster on its ledger is going to war with tech mogul Elon Musk.
Alcon Entertainment, perhaps best known for futuristic thriller “Blade Runner 2049,” is suing Musk over what it perceives to be various forms of infringement stemming from the latter’s recent Tesla event.
(Musk owns electric vehicle company Tesla, as well as spaceship manufacturer SpaceX and social media platform X.)
According to Variety, the lawsuit — filed Monday — is seeking an injunction and “unspecified monetary damages.”
The lawsuit accused Musk, Tesla and Warner Bros. Studios of “direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement, and false endorsement.”
Alcon took particular issue with an Oct. 10 event in which Musk unveiled his latest tech innovation, the autonomously-driving taxi, Cybercab.
During said event, Musk used imagery during the unveiling presentation that Alcon is claiming to have hewed far too close to its “Blade Runner 2049” brand.
Furthermore, the complaint — filed in Los Angeles federal court per Fox Business — took a number personal shots at Musk.
While distancing itself from any relationship with Tesla, Alcon argued that any future potential relationship would have to take “Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
Does this lawsuit have merit?
The suit further alleged that any “potential brand affiliation with Tesla is even more issuefraught” if a company does not share “Musk’s extreme political and social views[.]”
The studio argued that any erroneous association could have major financial implications.
“The financial magnitude of the misappropriation here was substantial,” the suit alleged.
It added: “Alcon has spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars building the BR2049 brand into the famous mark that it now is.”
The suit then claims that “for all of these reasons,” Alcon wants it to be clear that there is absolutely no relationship between itself and Musk.
This lawsuit came after a report emerged in September that claimed Hollywood at large was planning on ditching Musk and his associated brands due to the tech mogul’s newfound alliance with former President Donald Trump — the Republican presidential nominee — and Musk’s more conservative-leaning thinking.
Speaking of Musk’s friendship with Trump, coincidentally, this lawsuit comes around the same time as Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro complained about Musk’s financial donations to Trump.
Regardless of how this lawsuit turns out, Musk will have a vested interest in the forthcoming Nov. 5 general election. Former President Donald Trump has openly discussed adding Musk to his potential administration.
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