diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index c9fa8eaef..02e2c0a68 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+2008-01-02	Tobias Doerffel	<tobydox/at/users/dot/sourceforge/dot/net>
+
+	* include/dummy_effect.h:
+	* src/core/effect.cpp:
+	make dummyEffect really work in case we need it
+
+	* README:
+	* src/core/about_dialog.cpp:
+	extended copyright from 2007 to 2008
+
 2007-12-27	Tobias Doerffel	<tobydox/at/users/dot/sourceforge/dot/net>
 
 	* src/core/track_container.cpp:
diff --git a/README b/README
index 8b6b14b73..1adf4ec3f 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Linux MultiMedia Studio 0.3.0
 ==============================
 
-Copyright (c) 2004-2007 by LMMS-developers
+Copyright (c) 2004-2008 by LMMS-developers
 
 
 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify 
diff --git a/include/dummy_effect.h b/include/dummy_effect.h
index 274c179e3..435b4ae00 100644
--- a/include/dummy_effect.h
+++ b/include/dummy_effect.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * dummy_effect.h - effect used as fallback if an effect couldn't be loaded
  *
- * Copyright (c) 2006 Tobias Doerffel <tobydox/at/users.sourceforge.net>
+ * Copyright (c) 2006-2008 Tobias Doerffel <tobydox/at/users.sourceforge.net>
  * 
  * This file is part of Linux MultiMedia Studio - http://lmms.sourceforge.net
  *
@@ -27,6 +27,29 @@
 #define _DUMMY_EFFECT_H
 
 #include "effect.h"
+#include "effect_control_dialog.h"
+
+
+class dummyEffectControlDialog : public effectControlDialog
+{
+public:
+	dummyEffectControlDialog( effect * _eff ) :
+		effectControlDialog( NULL, _eff )
+	{
+	}
+
+	virtual ch_cnt_t getControlCount( void )
+	{
+		return( 0 );
+	}
+
+	inline virtual QString nodeName( void ) const
+	{
+		return( "dummycontrols" );
+	}
+
+} ;
+
 
 
 class dummyEffect : public effect
@@ -57,8 +80,7 @@ public:
 
 	inline virtual effectControlDialog * createControlDialog( track * )
 	{
-		// TODO: setup a dummy control-dialog for not crashing LMMS
-		return( NULL );
+		return( new dummyEffectControlDialog( this ) );
 	}
 
 } ;
diff --git a/src/core/about_dialog.cpp b/src/core/about_dialog.cpp
index 0ea952235..78b974622 100644
--- a/src/core/about_dialog.cpp
+++ b/src/core/about_dialog.cpp
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 /*
  * about_dialog.cpp - implementation of about-dialog
  *
- * Copyright (c) 2004-2007 Tobias Doerffel <tobydox/at/users.sourceforge.net>
+ * Copyright (c) 2004-2008 Tobias Doerffel <tobydox/at/users.sourceforge.net>
  * 
  * This file is part of Linux MultiMedia Studio - http://lmms.sourceforge.net
  *
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ aboutDialog::aboutDialog() :
 
 	QLabel * about_lbl = new QLabel( tr( "LMMS - A powerful "
 						"synthesizer-studio\n\n"
-						"Copyright (c) 2004-2007 "
+						"Copyright (c) 2004-2008 "
 						"LMMS-Developers\n\n"
 						"http://lmms.sourceforge.net" )
 #ifndef QT4
diff --git a/src/core/effect.cpp b/src/core/effect.cpp
index 75ed1244f..8bdd6ef82 100644
--- a/src/core/effect.cpp
+++ b/src/core/effect.cpp
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 effect::effect( const plugin::descriptor * _desc,
 			const descriptor::subPluginFeatures::key * _key ) :
 	plugin( _desc ),
-	m_key( *_key ),
+	m_key( _key ? *_key : descriptor::subPluginFeatures::key()  ),
 	m_okay( TRUE ),
 	m_noRun( FALSE ),
 	m_running( FALSE ),