02-04-2016, 01:31 PM
The Fine Brothers attempt at Trademarking was actually a good idea. Any large organization needs to protect their business procedures.
What everyone is missing is that they weren't trademarking React videos, per se. They were trademarking titles and specificities. So you can't totally recreate their videos, namely Elders React..., Teens React..., and Kids React...
It protected them so that nobody else could use the same, or similar, graphics as their videos.
Imagine I may make a Kids React to [Whatever] video and I use a logo real similar to theirs. Like the same as theirs, but different colors kind of stuff. And my videos suuuucks! The average Youtuber watches it and thinks, "Wow these React videos were cool before, but they have really dropped in quality. I don't think I'm gonna watch any more of them."
So because of a cheap knockoff, they will get less views. Less views is less money.
Their actual mistake was in customer involvement. They should have quietly trademarked everything and not said anything about it. Wait a few months to a year, then create their React World plan and market it as, "We want to help people make React videos." Instead of the way they did it, "Hey we just legally protected ourselves, but we want to let you in on the work so we can share in the profit." That was stupid on their parts.
And now they've gone so far as to cancel their trademarks and remove their YouTube Content ID markers, which means they have almost zero protection for their products. I can now download one of their videos, post it back up on my channel, and monetize it...and there's little they can do about it.
Before this whole fiasco did you know that the Fine Brothers did the React video things? I didn't. I knew of the React videos, I've watched a few of them, but I wasn't a subscriber and I didn't realize what channel was making them.
Their biggest mistake was moving too fast and being too open with their customer base.
To give an example...a local grocery store in my area has a deal with a local gas station. For every $50 you buy in groceries you get a few cents off per gallon of gas, up to a maximum of 30 gallons. Everybody loves it. Nobody noticed the fact that grocery store raised their prices by between 5 and 7 cents per item. You can see it. One of the franchises in a neighboring town doesn't participate and their prices are all lower, because they don't have the 'fuel overhead'.
But the store never mentioned the price increase, so nobody cares that they're actually paying more now.
The Fine Brothers should have never trusted their customers, that was just silly.
What everyone is missing is that they weren't trademarking React videos, per se. They were trademarking titles and specificities. So you can't totally recreate their videos, namely Elders React..., Teens React..., and Kids React...
It protected them so that nobody else could use the same, or similar, graphics as their videos.
Imagine I may make a Kids React to [Whatever] video and I use a logo real similar to theirs. Like the same as theirs, but different colors kind of stuff. And my videos suuuucks! The average Youtuber watches it and thinks, "Wow these React videos were cool before, but they have really dropped in quality. I don't think I'm gonna watch any more of them."
So because of a cheap knockoff, they will get less views. Less views is less money.
Their actual mistake was in customer involvement. They should have quietly trademarked everything and not said anything about it. Wait a few months to a year, then create their React World plan and market it as, "We want to help people make React videos." Instead of the way they did it, "Hey we just legally protected ourselves, but we want to let you in on the work so we can share in the profit." That was stupid on their parts.
And now they've gone so far as to cancel their trademarks and remove their YouTube Content ID markers, which means they have almost zero protection for their products. I can now download one of their videos, post it back up on my channel, and monetize it...and there's little they can do about it.
Before this whole fiasco did you know that the Fine Brothers did the React video things? I didn't. I knew of the React videos, I've watched a few of them, but I wasn't a subscriber and I didn't realize what channel was making them.
Their biggest mistake was moving too fast and being too open with their customer base.
To give an example...a local grocery store in my area has a deal with a local gas station. For every $50 you buy in groceries you get a few cents off per gallon of gas, up to a maximum of 30 gallons. Everybody loves it. Nobody noticed the fact that grocery store raised their prices by between 5 and 7 cents per item. You can see it. One of the franchises in a neighboring town doesn't participate and their prices are all lower, because they don't have the 'fuel overhead'.
But the store never mentioned the price increase, so nobody cares that they're actually paying more now.
The Fine Brothers should have never trusted their customers, that was just silly.