The Fine Bros. have apologized for their trademarking of the ‘React’ video format, saying that they will rescind all of the trademarks they have filed pertaining to it, scrap their planned React World program and that they will also remove all Content ID claims that have hit other videos.
The YouTubers attracted a major negative backlash after announcing that they were looking to license their popular React series of videos, revealing that they were going to launch a React World program which would “allow” other users to adopt the formula by agreeing to share a cut of their profits.
However, with The Fine Bros. failing to provide an adequate description of what they deemed to be “their” React format, and with the news that many channels received takedown notices for their reaction videos in the wake of the announcement, many began to criticize the motives of the YouTube duo. Only a few days later and they had lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers, with a live stream even being set up in order for viewers to watch the impact on the video creators’ numbers in real time.
In a post on Medium, The Fine Bros. have now apologized (kinda) for the announcement, saying that although their “intentions are pure,” “it makes perfect sense for people to distrust [their] motives.”
Here’s an excerpt from their statement:
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.
A Content ID claim occurs when YouTube’s copyright algorithms automatically detects what it perceives to be a copyright infringement, which was reportedly occurring on various reaction videos after the React World announcement was made public. The Fine Bros. have informed YouTube users affected by these takedown notices to send them an email with the subject header “false claim” in order to rectify these issues.
While The Fine Bros. stop short of actually apologizing for the furor surrounding React World, instead laying the blame on their miscommunication and insisting that they not planning on using their powers for evil, at least everyone is free to React once again without having the might of YouTube’s backwards copyright enforcement system enforced upon them.
