Up until last week, the Fine Bros' biggest claim to fame was their YouTube series of videos that revolved around a "reaction" gimmick, in which they filmed children, elderly people, or other groups of people as they happened upon some popular toy, show, or object. That changed on Tuesday when the duo announced plans to expand its empire—which involved the real-life brothers filing a trademark claim on the word "react."
The resulting backlash proved so monstrous that the duo made an official announcement late Monday, backing off of every initiative they'd announced on January 26. "We're here to apologize," the Fine Bros wrote, before confirming that they'd rescinded all trademarks and applications pertaining to the word "react."
Additionally, the duo confirmed that it would shutter a new "React World" initiative before it had even taken off. As announced, React World would have allowed other video makers to pay the Fine Bros to license their react videos' "format." The Fine Bros tried comparing what they had to offer to the proliferation of "Got Talent" TV series across the globe, but critics complained about an aggressive takedown wave in the meantime. Several YouTube channels complained that they'd received takedown notices from Fullscreen Inc, a company related to the Fine Bros, over their own original "react" videos.
The Fine Bros had confirmed in statements this past week that Fullscreen had indeed filed those Content ID claims, which would be rescinded, and Monday's announcement confirmed that the duo would continue to back off such claims. (The duo didn't formally announce that it had also deleted all proof of React World from its various social media feeds and video channels.)
"The concerns people have about React World are understandable, and that people see a link between that and our past video takedowns, but those were mistakes from an earlier time," the Fine Bros wrote. "It makes perfect sense for people to distrust our motives here, but we are confident that our actions will speak louder than these words moving forward."
The narrow genre of "observing and interviewing groups of people"
The Fine Bros' US Patent and Trademark Office filing for the word "react" didn't revolve around all use of the word, but it was still incredibly broad, as the filing described "programs and webisodes via the Internet in the field of observing and interviewing various groups of people." That trademark attempt was filed in July 2015 and approved for a 30-day opposition period beginning February 2.
According to the USPTO, if no parties had filed an opposing claim against the trademark request within its 30-day period, it would have proceeded through the trademark application process. In the Fine Bros' case, that had already happened twice in 2012 via claims on the phrases "teens react" and "elders react." Monday's announcement confirmed that those previously awarded trademarks would also be rescinded.
Opposition had already begun before February 2, mostly in the meta-tastic form of video creators posting videos of themselves reacting to the Fine Bros' many reaction videos. Our favorite was a curse-loaded tirade from video game designer Tommy Refenes, who filmed himself mocking the children who the Fine Bros had previously filmed playing his game Super Meat Boy. He took extra care to point out any "random" children in the video who he recognized as child actors from various TV series. (Update: We forgot to add another great one, in which popular YouTube host Boogie2988 reacted to the React World announcement video—whose value has grown since its original source video has since been deleted by the Fine Bros.)
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