Solicitations

Yes, there is a notice attached to the ADMIN notifications that are received by the form owner/administrator. Nothing is ever inserted into the email notifications sent to the site visitors who complete and actually SEND the form.

Maintaining a current license is important so you receive the latest in security fixes, WordPress compatibility updates, etc. We chose to implement the notice as a simple reminder for the site administrators.

This is most likely the scenario for the comment you found. I've seen this many times. The Commenter purchased a developer license which he uses to power Gravity Forms on several of his clients sites. He wants to "white label" Gravity Forms so he can charge his clients whatever inflated amount as if he custom built the application. When the Commenter let his key expire, all of his client sites using his now-expired key were affected. His clients (technically the admins of their own sites) saw the Gravity Forms expiration reminder in their incoming admin notifications and the developer ended up with egg on his face.

Of course he wants to paint a picture where we're somehow the bad guy, but the simple solution here is to either keep the key updated if you're using it for client sites, or have them purchase their own key so they can maintain the renewals on the key, etc.

What he refers to as "stripping the license" is basically just removing the license key from the Gravity Forms settings page. The application only shows the notice if the key is expired. Removing it from the settings page removes the notice. Simple solution if you're not going to renew the license anyhow.