CBS and Paramount, the two studios that own the rights to Star Trek, announced a list of 10 guidelines for fan film creators this week. The studios are saying that they “will not object to, or take legal action against” filmmakers that follow the new rules (although the studios added that “CBS and Paramount Pictures reserve the right to revise, revoke and/or withdraw these guidelines at any time in their own discretion.”)

The new rules come amid a dispute between the two studios and Axanar Productions, a production company formed by fans who raised more than $1 million in crowdfunding and donations to create a professional-quality Star Trek fan film about Garth of Izar, a hero of Captain Kirk from The Original Series. Axanar Productions boasted about the fact that it had hired people who had formerly worked on Star Trek, and it released a 20-minute film called Prelude to Axanar in 2014. The feature-length film, simply called Axanar, was supposed to debut in 2016.

But CBS and Paramount produced a list of ways they considered Axanar Productions infringing on their copyright. In early May, a judge ruled that the fan film makers would have to face a lawsuit from the two studios.

But a few weeks later, former Star Trek Director J.J. Abrams and current Star Trek Director Justin Lin told an audience of fans that the lawsuit from CBS and Paramount would be “going away,” after the two directors interceded on Axanar’s behalf. The two studios publicly acknowledged that they were in settlement talks, and Axanar Productions’ Executive Producer Alec Peters said the studios would be handing down guidelines for fan film creators.

When CBS and Paramount finally released those guidelines this week, some were surprised at how stringent they were. Among the 10 new rules for fan filmmakers, no fan films may be more than 15 minutes long, and no story can exceed 2 episodes, or 30 minutes total. Any uniforms, accessories, or props must be “official merchandise.” All participants in the film must be amateurs “and cannot be currently or previously employed on any Star Trek series, films, production of DVDs or with any of CBS or Paramount Pictures’ licensees.” All fan films must be family friendly, without any profanity, nudity, drugs, or alcohol (editor's note: even synthehol?). That’s all in addition to rules about how the creators use the Star Trek name and how they raise and use money for their film.

You can read the whole list of guidelines here.

In a joint statement, CBS and Paramount thanked its fans for their support. “Throughout the years, many of you have expressed your love for the franchise through creative endeavors such as fan films. So today, we want to show our appreciation by bringing fan films back to their roots," the companies said.

In a surprising move, Axanar Productions met the release of the new guidelines with a new teaser trailer for the feature-length film. In early May, Axanar Productions had argued that it shouldn’t have to face CBS and Paramount’s lawsuit because the full feature-length film hadn’t been written or filmed yet.

The production company seems to show no signs of backing down from its intent to drag the fight with CBS and Paramount out. In a blog post on Axanar Productions’ site, blogger Jonathan Lane wrote, “By now, you’ve likely heard that CBS and Paramount have finally, after decades of silence, released a series of guidelines for Star Trek fan films to follow and not get sued. Unfortunately, the guidelines were written by a group of over-caffeinated lawyers and licensing employees with little to no understanding of the concept of Star Trek fandom. In short, these rules would essentially obliterate nearly all past and current Star Trek fan films and series.”

Listing image by Axanar Productions