Nintendo shut down a Metroid fan film, citing copyright infringement.

Nintendo has been known to be lenient with blatant rule-breakers, allowing YouTube‘s private channels to stay up while simply taking the profits for themselves, as previously reported by The Inquisitr. In that case, they were lenient because they could have easily just taken the whole channel down for “Let’s Play” videos and fan films. In the most recent case, however, the ambitious fan film in question was being funded through Kickstarter and had brought in a significant amount of money.

The fan film may not have been getting made for public sale, but they were still bringing in money for Nintendo’s intellectual property without Nintendo’s permission or blessing, which in fact is copyright infringement. Of course, the project wasn’t taken down without warning from several commenters, as several people told them they were in the wrong legally.

The Metroid fan film Nintendo shut down was apparently reported and Nintendo took action, closing the Kickstarter campaign. Now where the campaign page used to be is a statement that the fan film campaign “is the subject of an intellectual property dispute and is currently unavailable.”

It is unknown whether Nintendo and the fan film creators are talking behind the scenes about rights distribution and such, or if there is a pending lawsuit over the project which had made more than $20,000 before having been taken down.

Fellow fans, especially backers, are likely hoping the fan film does get made with Nintendo‘s blessing and contribution. The story of Samus Aran, a woman dressing in a space suit and fighting aliens with advanced technology to save humanity, could have potential to be a blockbuster film in the right hands. Who else would try to make a movie right besides fans willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen?

It could be a blessing in disguise that Nintendo shut down a Metroid fan film, or simply mass disappointment all around.