Fine Brothers Cancel 'React World' Plans
We have decided to do the following:
- Rescind all of our “React” trademarks and applications.
- Discontinue the React World program.
- Release all past Content ID claims.
The concerns people have about React World are understandable, and that people see a link between that and our past video takedowns, but those were mistakes from an earlier time. 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.
The Fine Brothers took a battering for their bullish attempts at a YouTube licensing scheme which heavily favoured themselves. Given the backlash, the company has now cancelled the entire project. I was in agreement with the common line, that Fine Bros were being too greedy and monopolistic with their React World plans, but I don’t vilify. I think they should have kept their show trademarks, pledging to use them responsibly. There’s nothing wrong with owning your own logo.
The funny thing is, it was very likely for the highly-generic ‘React’ trademark to have been rejected by the USPTO anyway … yet it’s the main thing people were upset about.