Designers: What do you do when you find a forum that removed your copyright?
Wow, I'm surprised this thread hasn't been locked yet. LOL...My solution to this kind of thing is not to use any theme where a copyright in the footer is required. I could just imagine if everyone who created something that I used in my forum wanted that link. My footer would be a foot long. I don't think so. It's also pretty ridiculous to compare a theme or other coding to the mybb software itself. Of all of them, only mybb stands on its own as a software. Your themes and plugins wouldn't work without it, so I feel it is justified having a mybb link in my footer. Not saying that the themes and plugins aren't appreciated by those that use it. I appreciate every person that has created a plugin that I use on my forum. I just won't show that appreciation with a copyright link in my footer. 
Jude