Power Rangers’ creator demands short film’s removal

The creator of children’s television series Power Rangers has ordered two video-sharing sites to remove a short film based on the show because of alleged copyright infringement.

Joseph Kahn, Jil Hardin and Adi Shankar released their own shorter and darker version of the original—which centres on four young US-based super heroes.

But according to Khan, media mogul Haim Saban, who owns the rights to the Power Rangers franchise, has attempted to remove the video by sending takedown requests under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to video-sharing websites Vimeo and YouTube.

The production, posted on Monday (February 23), is the latest in a series of films produced by Shankar that Khan has collaborated on. It shows rangers in a bleak future controlled by machines.

The 14-minute long film, called Power/Rangers, has received more than three million views on YouTube, where it is still live, but has been removed from Vimeo.

Vimeo reportedly told Kahn in an email on Tuesday that it “is the host for your videos and as a host for user-generated content we are fully compliant with the notice-and-takedown provisions of the DMCA.”

Khan wrote on social networking site Twitter: “Saban is trying to shut ‘Power/Rangers’ down. If you’d like to keep watching, tell them to stop harassing me.”

He added: “Every image in ‘Power/Rangers’ is original footage. Nothing was pre-existing. There is no copyrighted footage in the short [film]. I am not making any money on it and I refuse to accept any from anyone.”

Saban is currently in the process of revitalising the quartet for a new feature length film being made in collaboration with Lionsgate Films.

Saban did not respond to request for comment.