The Fine Brothers are a duo of American YouTubers brothers who have managed to break through thanks to videos that show them reacting live to a specific theme (ranging from the election of Miss Universe to new technologies, a recent piece of music or comic content). The concept was then extended to include the reactions of third parties filmed in their studios (teenagers, the elderly, parents...). Whatever one might think of the content, they managed to get nearly 14 million subscriptions to their YouTube channel (alone). This video format is logically called "react", since it is a collection of reactions.
Probably already well paid by the advertisers and their sponsors, they recently had the idea of registering the REACT trademark at the American trademark office, with the project of creating a license called REACT WOLRD, which would allow them to claim a (questionable) monopoly of exploitation on this precise video format. As a result, all fans and creators who wish to use the word REACT in connection with their videos would have to pay royalties to the Fine brothers, who would take 20% from advertising revenue and 30% from sponsorship revenue.
The news was greeted with amazement and anger among fans, who quickly invaded YouTube with protest videos, on the famous Fine brothers' famous format, and often in parody mode. As a result, in one day, the channel lost more than 100,000 subscribers, and real unsubscription campaigns were carried out by the most fervent opponents of the licence.
Such is taken who thought they were taking: hoping to increase their income, the Fine brothers only tarnished their reputation on the web and lost subscriptions to their channel (and thus part of their income). They quickly published a mea culpa in a commiqué, saying they were going to withdraw their trademark application as well as their licensing project. Will they really do it? That remains to be seen, as it should be noted that this is not their test balloon, they have already registered a number of brands in the US including REACT, such as ELDERS REACT or TEENS REACT. Such registrations are really surprising when you know how strict the US Trademark Office is on distinctiveness. A US law firm has already taken up the case to have all Fine Brothers Entertainments trademarks in this vein cancelled. To be continued, then.