sorry to tell you copyright law, states 70 years after author's death, 100 years for company (may vary slightly where you live and depends on reasonableness but nevertheless around that)
Yeah it sux but look at it this way, if u make something, it's protected after you are dead
I reckons a lot of ppl think IPS distribution is okay. I can't argue with this at all, it is literally a gray area. Because you aren't distributing the ROM, but ROM modification data, and it is in the player's will to modify the ROM (though this satisfies my definition of distribution, I don't think it's a general definition).
The thing is the license says you can't modify your ROM (yep, says it). However, this term is unjust, think about it. If I bought a monitor with a license, "cannot modify the monitor", I doubt they can sue if I made it into a TV. Why? Does not help the interest of the Copyright Act. If you sold or distributed (gave it away), it would be a problem. However, if you made a video how to change a monitor to a TV, doubt they can do anything about it.
On the other hand, if the ROM hack disturbs the sales of current ROM (Diamond/sapphire/Platnium), that also may be a problem (this isn't really copyright law from here, pure economic loss).
It's in a gray area. If ROM makers had a way to stop ROM hackers, they would have done it already (ROM dumping for that matter).