My Unofficial SFB Home Page was started in July 1995 due to the lack of almost any organized SFB information on the Internet. By now (April 1997), the combined pages get over a thousand hits per day representing several hundred visitors. As of April 1999, the site is being converted to the requirements of an "authorized" site as per ADB's official web policy. Unfortunately, this will mean that much of the material currently on the page will have to be taken down. Technically, none of the following are allowed on any authorized site:
I am not abandoning any material which will have to be removed by this policy, but I will have to find it a new place on the web. Also, previously it was my policy to freely post material which was submitted to me -- I will continue to do so, but only material which fits the rules outlined above. If you agree to submit your material to ADB, then I am willing to post it and submit it (i.e. notify ADB of its submission).
Related pages:This site is unofficial. Amarillo Design Bureau (ADB) may "authorize" this site as fitting by their rules, but they are not responsible for the material herein, which is the undertaking and opinions of a private citizen (hence unofficial), and should not construed to be an official position of either companies.
Star Fleet Battles, SFB, Federation & Empire,, Star Fleet Missions, Prime Directive, and all contents thereof are copyright (C) 1990 by Amarillo Design Bureau. Second Edition copyright (c) 1994 by Amarillo Design Bureau. All rights are reserved under the Pan-American, Berne, and International Copyright Conventions. These games were produced under license from Franz Joseph Designs, authors of the STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL. Elements of the Star Fleet Universe are the property of Paramount Pictures Corporation and are used with their permission.
The Amarillo Design Bureau is reachable by email at
<design@starfleetgames.com>.
The official ADB web policy casts itself as an interpreter of U.S. copyright law, but without citing law or cases for its opinions. Having made a study of copyright law, I do not agree with the opinions contained in the official web policy. However, in order to cooperate with ADB on this I am willing to abide by it.
Specifically, ADB claims that they have copyright over tables as generic as the movement cost tables, which consist of the numbers 1 through 30 multiplied by a constant (like 1/2 or 2/3). This to me is a gross mischaracterization of copyright law.
Furthermore, they specify that printing of the 6-12 numbers in a turn mode chart automatically constitutes more than "fair use" of a copyrighted work. To my knowledge, this is a claim which has not been substantiated. According to Fair Use, you may use a limited amount of material from a copyrighted work so long as you give proper credit to the owner and author of that material. You are safest if your work is not sold for a profit, but this is not a requirement, as has been shown by a number of Supreme Court decisions.
The amount of reproduced material should be small -- this is a measure of quality rather than quantity. It should not reproduce critical portions of a published work, nor should the new work supplant the original in any way.