LIVESTREAM UPDATE:

Still a livestream, tonight (Friday, January 29th) at 7pm est!  Doodles and Aviary Attorney!

Watch here or here, see you then!

END LIVESTREAM UPDATE!

What?  A sort-of comic on a Friday?  What’s going on?  In the event you missed it, the Fine Bros just pulled this nonsense:

As a quick summary, the Fine Bros are a duo that got famous on YouTube for creating a bunch of “react” video series, where folks react to a bunch of random stuff (mostly viral videos) on the internet.

There’s “Kids react,” “Teens react,” “Elders react,” and so on.

They are looking to add to their empire of react videos by licensing out their brand so people can make react videos of their own.

It’s really frightening how they are all smiles telling their audience that they too can make react videos in a “fully legal way” by licensing with them and giving them a cut of your content.

…as if making react videos belong to these guys.

React videos on the internet predate the Fine Brothers.

React videos predate the internet.

Since this video has come out, they’ve had a lot of backlash and have been doing damage control on their videos, facebook page, and reddit.

By damage control, I primarily mean they have been censoring and deleting as many posts as possible that are criticizing them for what they’re doing.

They are also trying to explain what they mean by defining what their claims are here: https://www.facebook.com/FineBros/posts/10153850492114522

They keep deleting stuff, so who knows what’ll be there by the time you click on it, but the long and short of what they’re saying at the time of this writing is that they:

  • do not own a copyright on “react” videos in general
  • do own the format of their show, including:
    • logos
    • titles
    • brand names
    • “timing”
    • their specific use of music (wtf does that mean)
    • types of segments
    • and some other stuff

Now, I don’t mind the logo bit.  The Fine  Bros’ logo is their logo and they should be able to control it.  The titles of their shows… this is getting a little scary:

“Kids React”

That’s less of a brand title than it is a physical description of what’s happening in the video and I don’t think that should be trademarked.  Here’s a frightening exchange from their FB page:

 RANDOM GUY: So if I make my OWN video and its kids reacting to…. idk redbull. I cant say Kids react to redbull?

FINE BROTHERS: That is a trademarked show name, so yes, that is correct, and how series titles work across the entertainment industry but you could make that content.

That’s some grade A BS right there in my opinion.

They also say, “You are prohibited from distributing this show or any React branded content in any way without express consent in any territory worldwide”

Does that mean people can’t react to React videos?  Are they so bold as to say its ok for them to steal other people’s content, PLAY IT IN THEIR OWN VIDEOS for reaction purposes, but others can’t do the same with their content?

Finally… notice how self-congratulatory these guys are, acting like their react videos are something other than mindless, fleeting entertainment… like they’re doing the world a favor by existing… these guys are absolutely insane.

This is part of the reason that I’m terrified for the future of the internet.