The Fine Bros. Entertainment channel made a controversial announcement on January 26 — they planned to license their content format to fellow YouTubers through a program called "React World."
Just six days later, the initiative was canceled.
The Fine Bros. have gained millions of followers since 2007 with their "react" videos — "Kids React to Pokémon," etc. — but their new initiative was met with major backlash from Redditors and YouTubers alike.
Those opposed to the Fine Bros. "React World" plan perceived it to be an attempt to trademark the entire scope of "reaction" videos that are ubiqitous on YouTube. Many called the plan "exploitative," seeing it as a thinly-veiled attempt to establish a "racketeering" scheme to profit from their own fans.
The Fine Bros. have now pulled their two relevant "React World" videos from their YouTube channel, and posted an apology message on Medium.
"We realize we built a system that could easily be used for wrong," Rafi and Benny Fine wrote. "We are fixing that."
The message continues to explain that they understand how their trademark requests had the potential to be used "to police and control online video." Because of the concerns being voiced, the Fine Bros. announced they will be retracting all of their trademark applications, and discontinuing the "React World" program.
The Fine Bros. also noted that they will "release all past Content ID claims," meaning the copyright claims built into YouTube's system. Anyone who believes their video has been "claimed or removed incorrectly" was encouraged to email the Fine Bros.
"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," they wrote.
The /r/videos subreddit, a key platform for those speaking against the Fine Bros., has posted the apology message in full. In the comments, a lawyer who promised to provide pro-bono support to oppose the Fine Bros. trademark confirmed that the trademark retraction paperwork was filed.
