The Ethics of Updating for VB3 a VB2 Hack That You Didn't Write

[TheEDIGuy]

Originally Posted by Erwin

Feel free to download a hack and modify for your own forums. But don't re-release it and call it your own.

I personally spent most of today re-writing someone else's VB2 hack for use on my own VB3 forum. No simple task for me, since I'm still a wet newbie to writing hacks.

I documented the process along the way, updating the original author's installation instructions.

I then PM'ed the original author and offered to either release it with full credit to him as the original author, or do nothing and hope that he eventually releases a VB3 version himself.

My time was well-spent because I now have the hack in place. But in the spirit of sharing, it would be nice if I could provide the benefit of that work to others looking for similar functionality. But I understand and respect the original author's work, and defer to his wishes, assuming he ever responds...

I see both sides of the issue, I guess. But when exactly is enough code changed to make a "new" creation, instead of a reproduction of someone's copyrighted original creation? If you create a basketball, and I take the idea of "roundness" and make a soccer ball, have I infringed?