I React to the FineBros' ReactWorld Fiasco

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You know the FineBros right? They’re the people who make those videos about little kids or old folk reacting to funny internet stuff. Well, these blokes just announced something that’s caused a bit of controversy. They call it “React World”.

If you don’t yet know, react world is a way for the Fine Bros to license out the “React” formula to anyone else on youtube who would like to use it. The more youtube savvy among you might already realize that something is slightly off. The react formula is simply just reaction videos right? There isn’t really much that differentiates the FineBros’ reaction videos from any of the thousands of reaction videos around the world. Maybe these guys aren’t so bad though. Let’s look a bit further then.

According to the FAQ “we do not hold a copyright on reaction videos overall. No one can.” That’s good, and they are right there. But go a little further, and they say that you can not make any series that are structurally similar to

“Kids React,” “Teens React,” “Adults React,” “Elders React,” “People vs. Food”, “People vs. Technology,” “Try Not To Smile or Laugh,” “Lyric Breakdown,” and “Do They Know It,”.

I completely understand wanting to protect your intellectual properties, and that’s all well and good, but that is a very broad collection of shows. I asked the Fine Brothers what they mean by “structural elements” on reddit, and they responded

“The beat by beat of the shows. The title cards, the way the music works, the react facts, etc.”

This is still rather vague to me, but is more specific than the FAQ at least. So, you can’t have facts on the bottom of the screen, okay, that’s specific, but the rest is really vague and open to interpretation. The “beat by beat of the shows”. That can pretty much mean anything. “The way music works”? I have no real idea what that could mean. These things are all vague enough that the fine brothers could, potentially, place a copyright strike on any “react” series on youtube. Whether they will is really down to them.

Delve a little deeper, and you can find all the trademarks that FineBrothers have applied for. There are a few here that get me. First of all, I can kind of understand things like “teens react” and “elders react”, as these are pretty much shows that the FineBrothers put a lot of effort in to creating, and I find it hard to imagine in any other context. What really gets me it simply trademarking the word “React”. Yup, that’s right. The Fine Brothers want to have a complete monopoly on any ongoing internet series with the word “react” in them. This, in my opinion, is really really not cool. Now, I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t really want to delve to deep in to trademark law, because to be honest, I don’t quite know what I’m talking about. All I know is that FineBrothers having control over the word “React” in regards to web series kind of scares me.

Right now, Fine Brothers seems to be playing it cool. They say they will not take down react series unless they are blatently ripping them off. Maybe they will simply provide resources to and help smaller youtubers. If they do that, then hats off. But the fact is, I don’t really like the idea of them being given the power and ability to govern what counts as copyright infringement. It just feels like a step in the wrong direction. I dislike the idea of the Brothers being able to control all reaction videos on youtube simply because theirs was the most popular, regardless of whether or not they control them well.

I guess this is all up to the fine brothers though. I can only hope they see what their fans want, and do this all properly, rather than become yet another hindrance to small Youtubers.

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