YouTube's Fine Bros. Attempt to Trademark Reactions

[New Rogernomics]

They do Kids React, and Teens React, and Seniors React, and probably a bunch of others that I've never heard of that end in React. You see how there's kind of a theme running there that someone might try to exploit when making their own series of reaction videos? Say, by calling it Adults React or Tweens React or Sheep Shaggers React?

So what? Youtubers consistantly take and edit/adapt other creators content to fit their channel, and have been doing so for years, that's how the site works and evolves.

Reacation videos aren't a unique (Or smart) idea, people have been doing them for years, and there've been quite a few videos with "(Enter group here) React" before the Fine Bros. became popular.

Think the first would go as far back as silent still films, and well before internet and the cinema even existed. So it would be very difficult to trademark, and there would be too many conflicting claims to be trademarked in any case.

[The Rich Port]

... Or, you know, maybe you just like seeing what other people thought of something.

Or maybe, just maybe, what they do in general is amusing, and, sometimes they might even be something called "comedians" who make things called "jokes" about what they're doing.

I personally like watching them to see just how different peoples' thoughts can be... Or how similar, in other instances.

You know... Empathy and all those good things.

Of course. And small kids tend to be funny when they do almost anything.

... And as other people, myself included, have pointed out, the Fine Bros. are standing on the shoulders of really memetic colossi.

It's incredibly hypocritical of them to take something so widespread for themselves. "Reactions" is not something they do exclusively, anyway! They have other different kinds of videos. I get them trademarking, say... "TheReactChannel", because that's THEIR channel and THEIR brand. The word "react" is not their brand, nor is it their own domain.

... AGAIN... So. Fucking. What? Should they fucking trademark "Adults React To X" as well? It's a FORMAT. A GENRE. The Fine Bros. did not invent the concept of reaction videos, filed under "critical analysis" since some reaction videos actually contain immediate thoughts occurring right after experiencing something.

I will repeat again that they did not try to trademark reactions, nor did they try to lay any kind of claim to inventing the genre. Trademarking the word react wouldn't mean that no one else could make reaction videos, just as the various trademarks owned by Coca Cola, which cover more than just the words Coca Cola, do not prevent Pepsi from selling their own cola drinks, among other things.

AGAIN, that would be like Stephanie Meyer trademarking

What?

It's RIDICULOUSLY unreasonable to attempt such a thing and not expect a backlash from it, but more unreasonable is to think it's logical.

Iffy, your logic is extremely deniable.

There is nothing illogical about wanting to keep other people from profiting from their brand. Though they should have realised that the internet, hive of scum and villainy that it is, would absolutely lose its mind if they found out about them trying to do that.

*sigh* Yeah no Iffy it's the Internet's fault.

As I've explained multiple times... Though my ADD partially failed me... It would be like a corporation, say, a publishing house, trademarking a genre of novels or books. Or a movie studio trademarking documentaries.

Like Stephanie Mayer trademarking shitty vampire romance novels... There we go, brain, you holey shit bastard, you.

[The Rich Port]

So what? Youtubers consistantly take and edit/adapt other creators content to fit their channel, and have been doing so for years, that's how the site works and evolves.

Reacation videos aren't a unique (Or smart) idea, people have been doing them for years, and there've been quite a few videos with "(Enter group here) React" before the Fine Bros. became popular.

What's so "un-smart" about them?

Video reviews are reaction videos too... You saying Roger Ebert was an idiot?

[Eol Sha]

Personally, I'm not a fan of react videos. I don't watch them enough to have a positive or negative opinion, but they just seem subsatanceless. Like, one of my favorite Youtubers, Black Nerd Comedy, has done a react video or two recently, which is a departure from his normal material of tv show reviews, rants, movie reviews, and discussion videos. The first one was reasonably funny since he was reacting to the new Suicide Squad trailer. But when he did it again, well, it got old really quick.

One person's trash is another person's treasure. Your opinion on someone's work should not affect the law.

Ah, but seriously... Really, you like the Black Nerd?

He's such a bad actor and not funny and his videos are all gags and no opinion.

Ah, but totally seriously... See? Feels arbitrary, don't it? That's because it IS arbitrary.

Also, how do you think Buzzfeed felt when they came up with children eating gross things... Several months before the Fine Bros.?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWgqfYdQ0GI

This came out January 31, 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=449f8nz6q2U

This came out JUNE 31, of the same year.

Might seem like a long time... But, seriously. Come on. There's a double standard going on here. Ya know?

1. I'm not saying it should affect the law. Just that I don't get the appeal.
2. I prefer listening to his rants and movie reviews.
3. I don't know what videos of his you are watching, but he has plenty of opinions and is fairly funny.
4. I think you're insinuating arguments that aren't there.
5. Meh, Buzzfeed has plenty of money. They'll be fine.

[Ifreann]

Of course. And small kids tend to be funny when they do almost anything.


I will repeat again that they did not try to trademark reactions, nor did they try to lay any kind of claim to inventing the genre. Trademarking the word react wouldn't mean that no one else could make reaction videos, just as the various trademarks owned by Coca Cola, which cover more than just the words Coca Cola, do not prevent Pepsi from selling their own cola drinks, among other things.

What?


There is nothing illogical about wanting to keep other people from profiting from their brand. Though they should have realised that the internet, hive of scum and villainy that it is, would absolutely lose its mind if they found out about them trying to do that.

*sigh* Yeah no Iffy it's the Internet's fault.

As I've explained multiple times... Though my ADD partially failed me... It would be like a corporation, say, a publishing house, trademarking a genre of novels or books. Or a movie studio trademarking documentaries.

Like Stephanie Mayer trademarking shitty vampire romance novels... There we go, brain, you holey shit bastard, you.

And you've been wrong every time, because, as I have explained multiple times, trademarks don't prevent other people and companies from making their own versions of the same product. Burger King doesn't own the concept of either burgers or the monarchy.

Well would you look at that, another registered trademark symbol. Maybe they do own being the king of something.

[The Rich Port]

One person's trash is another person's treasure. Your opinion on someone's work should not affect the law.

Ah, but seriously... Really, you like the Black Nerd?

He's such a bad actor and not funny and his videos are all gags and no opinion.

Ah, but totally seriously... See? Feels arbitrary, don't it? That's because it IS arbitrary.

Also, how do you think Buzzfeed felt when they came up with children eating gross things... Several months before the Fine Bros.?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWgqfYdQ0GI

This came out January 31, 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=449f8nz6q2U

This came out JUNE 31, of the same year.

Might seem like a long time... But, seriously. Come on. There's a double standard going on here. Ya know?

1. I'm not saying it should affect the law. Just that I don't get the appeal.
2. I prefer listening to his rants and movie reviews.
3. I don't know what videos of his you are watching, but he has plenty of opinions and is fairly funny.
4. I think you're insinuating arguments that aren't there.
5. Meh, Buzzfeed has plenty of money. They'll be fine.

Well, what IS your opinion, then?

As for the appeal, like I said, people enjoy seeing other peoples' reactions. Sometimes they disagree and find them stupid, or sometimes people laugh because it's the same reaction they had... Or they're just funny to watch.

Oh, so rants are OK, but not reaction videos? I don't getcha... Rants are literally people reacting to something in off-the-cuff ways. What changes between the two? That he's watching something copyrighted and featuring it? I hate to sound like a snob or, alternatively, a scrub... But they're both examples of critical analysis of art.

After all, first impressions are important, or at least that's what people keep telling me when I show up without any clothes on to job interviews after cutting up my genitals with a box cutter.

You know something I don't get? Loot videos or unboxings that don't include talking about the product, especially video games or consoles. THOSE are really suspect. Sure, maybe they're reviewing packaging... But they're usually just clips of people... Counting up what they bought.

Has someone tried to trademark or copyright that no? No. Because, if you wanna talk about a lack of substance...

[New haven america]

So what? Youtubers consistantly take and edit/adapt other creators content to fit their channel, and have been doing so for years, that's how the site works and evolves.

Reacation videos aren't a unique (Or smart) idea, people have been doing them for years, and there've been quite a few videos with "(Enter group here) React" before the Fine Bros. became popular.

What's so "un-smart" about them?

Video reviews are reaction videos too... You saying Roger Ebert was an idiot?

I'm talking about the 95% of reaction videos where the people just sit there, mostly in silence, just watching stuff happening going "Yeah......... Cool...... *Sniff*...... Interesting".

It's unoriginal and lazy. Though, I must admit The Fine Bros. did make them somewhat better by editing out all the uninteresting silence and adding opinions at the end.

[New Grestin]

Oh no, a mediocre youtube channel with garbage content is going down in flames.

This has never happened before.

[Havenburgh]

Remember when King TM tried to put trademarks on the words candy and Saga?

[The Republic of American Freedom]

I'm talking about the 95% of reaction videos where the people just sit there, mostly in silence, just watching stuff happening going "Yeah......... Cool...... *Sniff*...... Interesting".

Jinx in a nutshell.

[The Two Jerseys]

The Fine Bros. claim is about as ridiculous as if Dick Wolf were to claim that only he can make TV shows with the word "law" in the title.

[The Republic of American Freedom]

The Fine Bros. claim is about as ridiculous as if Dick Wolf were to claim that only he can make TV shows with the word "law" in the title.

Don't give them any ideas.

[Barboneia]

*Sad trombone*

[The Rich Port]

What's so "un-smart" about them?

Video reviews are reaction videos too... You saying Roger Ebert was an idiot?

I'm talking about the 95% of reaction videos where the people just sit there, mostly in silence, just watching stuff happening going "Yeah......... Cool...... *Sniff*...... Interesting".

It's unoriginal and lazy. Though, I must admit The Fine Bros. did make them somewhat better by editing out all the uninteresting silence and adding opinions at the end.

You generalized, eh?

Then make some smart reaction videos to even the market then. Problem solved.

You just need to make... 10 billion videos, give or take.

Honestly thought about reviewing other reviewers... Until I realized a terrible, camera-aggressive other geek beat me to the punch.

*sigh* Yeah no Iffy it's the Internet's fault.

As I've explained multiple times... Though my ADD partially failed me... It would be like a corporation, say, a publishing house, trademarking a genre of novels or books. Or a movie studio trademarking documentaries.

Like Stephanie Mayer trademarking shitty vampire romance novels... There we go, brain, you holey shit bastard, you.

And you've been wrong every time, because, as I have explained multiple times, trademarks don't prevent other people and companies from making their own versions of the same product. Burger King doesn't own the concept of either burgers or the monarchy.

Well would you look at that, another registered trademark symbol. Maybe they do own being the king of something.

*sigh* So... What's your point?

What is similar about the word "react" to the Burger King logo?

Oh, right, there isn't any.

They already have trademarks that actually protect their products. "Fine Bros. Entertainment" and maybe even "The React Channel".

If anything, following your own logic... Them calling it anything with the word "React" in it just makes it more likely someone is going to confuse them for someone else who makes reaction videos. Instead of prohibiting people from trademarking commmonly used English words... You want to give the Fine Bros. the power to sue anybody or take money from anybody who puts the word "react" anywhere near their own YouTube channel? As someone pointed out elsewhere in this very thread, the Fine Bros. have attempted to abuse trademark law before and got shut down.

How is this reasonable to you, again? Because it seems pretty unreasonable to me.

[Anollasia]

Aw.

Well, at least Happy Birthday is no longer protected by copyright law.

Yay!

*inhales* HAPP- *coughs*

[Eol Sha]

1. I'm not saying it should affect the law. Just that I don't get the appeal.
2. I prefer listening to his rants and movie reviews.
3. I don't know what videos of his you are watching, but he has plenty of opinions and is fairly funny.
4. I think you're insinuating arguments that aren't there.
5. Meh, Buzzfeed has plenty of money. They'll be fine.

Well, what IS your opinion, then?

As for the appeal, like I said, people enjoy seeing other peoples' reactions. Sometimes they disagree and find them stupid, or sometimes people laugh because it's the same reaction they had... Or they're just funny to watch.

Oh, so rants are OK, but not reaction videos? I don't getcha... Rants are literally people reacting to something in off-the-cuff ways. What changes between the two? That he's watching something copyrighted and featuring it? I hate to sound like a snob or, alternatively, a scrub... But they're both examples of critical analysis of art.

After all, first impressions are important, or at least that's what people keep telling me when I show up without any clothes on to job interviews after cutting up my genitals with a box cutter.

You know something I don't get? Loot videos or unboxings that don't include talking about the product, especially video games or consoles. THOSE are really suspect. Sure, maybe they're reviewing packaging... But they're usually just clips of people... Counting up what they bought.

Has someone tried to trademark or copyright that no? No. Because, if you wanna talk about a lack of substance...

Goddammit. All these paragraphs. This'll be a bitch to format.

Well, what IS your opinion, then?

On reaction videos? Or the trademark thing?

As for the appeal, like I said, people enjoy seeing other peoples' reactions. Sometimes they disagree and find them stupid, or sometimes people laugh because it's the same reaction they had... Or they're just funny to watch.

Ok. I'm not begrudging them or anything. I mean, hell, I don't mind watching the occasional vlog so I, too, am a scrub.

All I'm saying is that reaction videos just aren't for me.

Oh, so rants are OK, but not reaction videos? I don't getcha... Rants are literally people reacting to something in off-the-cuff ways. What changes between the two? That he's watching something copyrighted and featuring it? I hate to sound like a snob or, alternatively, a scrub... But they're both examples of critical analysis of art.

It's entirely possible that I'm not being fair to reaction videos. I haven't really bothered to expose myself to them enough in order to form a real, informed opinion. And it's not like I hate them. It's just that I don't like them. I mean, if I'm on YouTube, I'm not wasting my time watching reaction videos. There are other, more familiar videos and channels to waste my time on.

Plus, rants are fun to watch and listen to. It's part of the reason why I like BNC and why I love TYT.

After all, first impressions are important, or at least that's what people keep telling me when I show up without any clothes on to job interviews after cutting up my genitals with a box cutter.

You're right. First impressions are important. I don't know what the first reaction video I saw was, but, suffice it to say, not much of an impact was left.

You know something I don't get? Loot videos or unboxings that don't include talking about the product, especially video games or consoles. THOSE are really suspect. Sure, maybe they're reviewing packaging... But they're usually just clips of people... Counting up what they bought.

Yeah. Unboxing stuff isn't all that interesting. I usually just skip over those videos. It also doesn't help that of the few unboxing videos I have seen on other channels (mostly tech and toy-related) I didn't really understand or care what was being said.

[New haven america]

So what? Youtubers consistantly take and edit/adapt other creators content to fit their channel, and have been doing so for years, that's how the site works and evolves.

Reacation videos aren't a unique (Or smart) idea, people have been doing them for years, and there've been quite a few videos with "(Enter group here) React" before the Fine Bros. became popular.

Think the first would go as far back as silent still films, and well before internet and the cinema even existed. So it would be very difficult to trademark, and there would be too many conflicting claims to be trademarked in any case.

IIRC, some of the first things to filmed on camera were people reacting to... life in general.

[Eol Sha]

*Sad trombone*

That's kinda funny.

[Greater Melchior]

https://twitter.com/spudgunjay/status/6 ... 5116168192


This is everything the Fine Bros wanted to trademark.

[The Rich Port]

Remember when King TM tried to put trademarks on the words candy and Saga?

Why yes. Yes we do.

But Ifreann doesn't.

(Image)

This is everything the Fine Bros wanted to trademark.

Ooh, what program is this? A specialized search engine?

Also, weird I'm hearing about this now. How did you get this info?

No news site I've read about the matter mentioned they were trademarking other things...

Especially incredibly specific ones like these.

Jesus fucking Christ...

[New haven america]

I'm talking about the 95% of reaction videos where the people just sit there, mostly in silence, just watching stuff happening going "Yeah......... Cool...... *Sniff*...... Interesting".

It's unoriginal and lazy. Though, I must admit The Fine Bros. did make them somewhat better by editing out all the uninteresting silence and adding opinions at the end.

You generalized, eh?

Then make some smart reaction videos to even the market then. Problem solved.

You just need to make... 10 billion videos, give or take.

Honestly thought about reviewing other reviewers... Until I realized a terrible, camera-aggressive other geek beat me to the punch.

Nope, most react channels are full of stuff like that, Jinx is a good example. Also I said 95%, not 100%, there are some that edit them to make them more watchable, like Ellen with her showing kids old tech or The Fine Bros.

If I had the resources, I would, yet I don't. :\

Which one, LewiSenpai or AnimeSnob, or is there another person who reviews reviewsers I don't know about...?

[Eol Sha]

(Image)



This is everything the Fine Bros wanted to trademark.

Yowch. That doesn't look good.

[Jordkloden]

*sigh*

More talented young people....lost to greed.

[The Rich Port]

You generalized, eh?

Then make some smart reaction videos to even the market then. Problem solved.

You just need to make... 10 billion videos, give or take.

Honestly thought about reviewing other reviewers... Until I realized a terrible, camera-aggressive other geek beat me to the punch.

Nope, most react channels are full of stuff like that, Jinx is a good example. Also I said 95%, not 100%, there are some that edit them to make them more watchable, like Ellen with her showing kids old tech or The Fine Bros.

If I had the resources, I would, yet I don't. :\

Which one, LewiSenpai or AnimeSnob, or is there another person who reviews reviewsers I don't know about...?

Not so easy then, is it? But I suppose you have a point. Just because you work your ass off making something doesn't mean it won't be crap.

I specifically remember his video being captioned "Reviewing the Reviewers: Nostalgia Critic." I'll look it up.

In the meantime... This guy tells it like it is... While calling Jinx a legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uNkGv04GHc

I love the Internet sometimes.

[The Republic of American Freedom]

*sigh*

More talented young people....lost to greed.

The Fine Brother$ were never talented all they did was film someone else's reactions to something someone else made.