Here at exp4all, we haven’t much covered what is proving to be one of the more polarizing developments in the industry so far this year. Whether you’ve been following it or not (you probably have, the Fine brothers are massively popular YouTube content creators), the controversy has sent ripples throughout the world of media, and has spilled over into world of gaming, as most of you are likely familiar with the Fine Bros. famous “[ ] reacts to video games” video format.
Most of us are avid YouTube watchers and subscribers, and no strangers to the Fine Bros. productions (one of my favorites can be found here), so when news broke yesterday that the Fine Bros. were attempting to officially trademark their successful reaction video format, we were left scratching our collective heads.
Now, faced with tremendous backlash from the online community, the Fine Bros. are re-considering their ill-advised venture.
As many fans noted, the Fine Bros. are not the only, or even the first, content creators to use this format for YouTube uploads. It has been used, multiple times, in the past by the Ellen DeGeneres show, as well as dozens of smaller accounts. These types of videos are incredibly popular on YouTube, and a trademark on the format by the Fine Bros. would mean that hundreds of these videos and the associated accounts would have to be removed due to copyright infringement.
The vitriolic response from the web was swift and brutal. As of now, the Fine Bros. YouTube channel has hemorrhaged over 200,000 followers in a mass exodus, and that number is still climbing. Thousands of GIFs, post, comments, and videos have flooded the Fine Bros. social media accounts, universally decrying what is seen by fans as a corporate power move, akin to censorship.
The response, however, should not have been unexpected. The industry saw similar push-back when Sony attempted to file a trademark claim on the English phrase “Let’s Play”, used in Sony’s gameplay demonstration videos and uploads. That trademark claim was also, mercifully, dropped.
Now the question is; are they truly sorry for making such a blatant error in judgment, especially when issues like net neutrality and censorship are so prevalent, or are they sorry because they got called out and lost a ton of money and followers?
The attempt to trademark specific phrases, formats, and stylistic content creation methods is seen by many as a blatant attempt to strong arm industry competition and overwhelm smaller accounts, as well as discourage content creators from producing content in a way that the Fine Bros. did not invent nor maintained a monopoly on. The Fine Bros. had the money, the followers, and the media industry clout to pull it off, too, if it weren’t for the ever-vigilant online community.
The brothers released a statement earlier today on medium.com, and here are some of the choice excerpts (click here to read it in full);
We realize we built a system that could easily be used for wrong. We are fixing that. The reality that trademarks like these could be used to theoretically give companies (including ours) the power to police and control online video is a valid concern, and though we can assert our intentions are pure, there’s no way to prove them.
We have decided to do the following:
1. Rescind all of our “React” trademarks and applications.
2. Discontinue the React World program.
3. Release all past Content ID claims.
Oh yeah, millionaire YouTube stars with a massive sense of entitlement, I’m sure your intentions were super pure.
