A Final Fantasy VII fan project aiming to produce a live-action web series based on the game has had its Kickstarter suspended over copyright infringement claims by developer Square Enix.

The project was requesting $400,000 to finance 5-6 episodes lasting around 15 minutes each and was positioned as a "tribute" to the series. Square Enix has responded stating "The project itself is in infringement of our copyrights and should be removed in its entirety from Kickstarter."

The fact that Square Enix has sent a DMCA notice to Kickstarter alerting it to the fact the project does not have the right to use the intellectual property is not surprising. The series was initially teased as a proof-of-concept live-action trailer, but a two-minute fan project video is a vastly different prospect to a series the length of a feature film.

There's also the crowdfunding aspect which means that if anything goes awry, the disgruntlement of fans who have invested in the unofficial work could negatively impact the Final Fantasy brand—something it seems Square prefers come from its own developers at the moment.

The notice cites registered copyrights to support its claim, and the Kickstarter has been taken offline until the matter can be resolved.

"Square Enix is the owner of all intellectual property rights to the Final Fantasy franchise under which video games, online services, and motion pictures have been published. The video game Final Fantasy VII has been registered with the Copyright Office, including but not limited to, US Copyright No. TX0004508436 and V3519D554."

This story originally appeared on Wired UK.