[steven s]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but if someone could explain why this doesn't work.

I thought if I made my own phrase that I could insert it in the footer.

Since the phrase vbulletin_copyright = vBulletin® v{1}, Copyright ©2000-{2}, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
I thought I could create a phrase forum_copyright = Copyright ©1999-{2}, my domain

Then somewhere below $vbphrase[powered_by_vbulletin] add $vbphrase[forum_copyright]

This way I wouldn't need to change it each year.
And to make it a full fledged mod, create a plugin that would add the phrase to the footer.