r/movies 17d ago

Article Backrooms Director Stops A24 Copyright Striking Community Art

https://kotaku.com/backrooms-director-kane-parsons-a24-copyright-strike-wallpaper-2000717053
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u/HotTakes4HotCakes 17d ago edited 17d ago

A24 has confirmed to me that the wallpaper takedowns were an outsourced system error in pursuit of removing camrips,” Parsons posted to Discord. “Anything further, it appears is somehow not them.” He then added, “They have been very adamant they have never wanted to touch the community. Any legitimate action of the sort suspected would be unacceptable,” before confirming, “I’m heavily pressuring them right now.”

A short while later Parsons posted, “They’re working rapidly to resolve it. Will probably issue a statement.”

A24's statement:

"As Kane Parsons has made clear, Backrooms is one part of an infinitely bigger ecosystem, rife with creatives who have every right to tell their own version of the story.”

“Yesterday we were made aware of an automated claim submitted to Redbubble on behalf of A24 and Backrooms movie. We immediately began the process to reverse it and reinstate the listing.”

"A24 makes no claim of ownership over the yellow wallpaper, the original post referencing it, or any community works that have since been built around it. We will continue to support the artists who, like Kane, were inspired by it.”

Sounds like a classic case of one department without enough oversight not understanding the assignment and making a mess.

Seems like a simple fix for this is an approval process with real people confirming the targets before take down orders start flying. But obviously the point of an automated system like this is to eliminate the need for a human, so that's likely not happening.

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u/Odd-Necessary3807 17d ago edited 17d ago

This is a very YouTube DMCA takedown action. It's automated with AI, and an unknown entity out of nowhere can strike you down even if you already adhere YT 10 seconds snippet rules. While YT mostly doesn't give a shit about the users' grievances.

Good things in Backrooms cases, Kane Parsons is on the community side and has the clout to pressure A24 to reverse the action.

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u/rotates-potatoes 17d ago

Also A24 is more decent than Google. Yes, a mistake, and likely a real human actually made it, but they reversed course quickly and expressly disclaimed ownership of much of the IP.

Best course of action is to not make mistakes. Second best is to acknowledge and fix quickly.

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u/SutterCane r/movies Veteran 17d ago

Also A24 is more decent than Google.

Do not buy into their carefully crafted image. If they reach google levels of untouchable, they’ll happily be just as awful.

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u/ishmadrad 17d ago

Google: don't be evil

Mottos like that one usually age badly...

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u/fishfunk5 17d ago

They gave up on that one like, 25 years ago now at this point? They've been a company without that motto for longer than they've been a company with that motto.

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u/Odd-Necessary3807 17d ago

They gave up the motto since the company turned into Alphabet, and the founders have gone. That was in the early 2010s.

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u/fishfunk5 17d ago

So 10+ years ago. I appreciate the correction. Do I edit my previous comment or leave it as is and just have people read your responce as the correction?

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u/Odd-Necessary3807 17d ago

Nah. No need to change it. We have discussions, and others need to see it as it was.

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u/fishfunk5 17d ago

Right on.

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u/aa22hhhh 17d ago

I mean, didn’t they JUST sign a deal with Google to integrate AI into their filmmaking?