I’ve had code stolen by an employee who used it to start a competing service. I sued him in Federal court and won.

You didn’t have your code stolen.

Your code was free and open, and the header he removed stated that fact.

What you had was a violation of your terms of use, and I while I agree the guy’s probably a scumbag, the only issue here is that he was seen doing it.

Rest assured, others have done it without being seen, it’s a fact of life for a public code repo.

I suggest you:

(a) change “copywrite” to “copyright” in your code, since a copywrite is someone who writes stories, and a copyright is a legal term claiming ownership;

(b) file a dmca takedown notice with github; I run a hosting service and when we receive those, we take action;

(c) move on. Life’s too short, and all he has to do is republish it to another repo and keep you angry and not working on your code.

(d) actually file a copyright with your code so that he doesn’t do it then sue you for using his code;

I feel for you, but scumbags are what they are and there’s not much you can do about it unless you spend a ton of money to find and file a suit against him that you will probably not win.

My condolences.