diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
deleted file mode 100644
index afb98b9d7dd8..000000000000
--- a/COPYING
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-This file is a summary of the licensing of files in this distribution.
-Some files may be marked specifically with a different license, in
-which case that license applies to the file in question.
-
-Most files are licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0:
-
-    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-    you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-    You may obtain a copy of the License at:
-
-        http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-    WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-    See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-    limitations under the License.
-
-Files under the datapath directory are licensed under the GNU General
-Public License, version 2.
-
-File build-aux/cccl is licensed under the GNU General Public
-License, version 2.
-
-The following files are licensed under the 2-clause BSD license.
-    include/windows/getopt.h
-    lib/getopt_long.c
-    lib/conntrack-tcp.c
-
-The following files are licensed under the 3-clause BSD-license
-    include/windows/netinet/icmp6.h
-    include/windows/netinet/ip6.h
-    lib/strsep.c
-
-Files under the xenserver directory are licensed on a file-by-file
-basis.  Refer to each file for details.
-
-Files lib/sflow*.[ch] are licensed under the terms of either the
-Sun Industry Standards Source License 1.1, that is available at:
-        http://host-sflow.sourceforge.net/sissl.html
-or the InMon sFlow License, that is available at:
-        http://www.inmon.com/technology/sflowlicense.txt
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4ba8cc0c88b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+
+                                 Apache License
+                           Version 2.0, January 2004
+                        https://www.apache.org/licenses/
+
+   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
+
+   1. Definitions.
+
+      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
+      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.
+
+      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
+      the copyright owner that is granting the License.
+
+      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
+      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
+      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
+      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
+      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
+      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
+      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
+
+      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
+      exercising permissions granted by this License.
+
+      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
+      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
+      source, and configuration files.
+
+      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
+      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
+      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
+      and conversions to other media types.
+
+      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
+      Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
+      copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
+      (an example is provided in the Appendix below).
+
+      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
+      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
+      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
+      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
+      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
+      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
+      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.
+
+      "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
+      the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
+      to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
+      submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
+      or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
+      the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
+      means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
+      to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
+      communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
+      and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
+      Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
+      excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
+      designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."
+
+      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
+      on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
+      subsequently incorporated within the Work.
+
+   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
+      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
+      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
+      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
+      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
+      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
+
+   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
+      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
+      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
+      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
+      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
+      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
+      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
+      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
+      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
+      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
+      cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
+      or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
+      or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
+      granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
+      as of the date such litigation is filed.
+
+   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
+      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
+      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
+      meet the following conditions:
+
+      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
+          Derivative Works a copy of this License; and
+
+      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
+          stating that You changed the files; and
+
+      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
+          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
+          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
+          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
+          the Derivative Works; and
+
+      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
+          distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
+          include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
+          within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
+          pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
+          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
+          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
+          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
+          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
+          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
+          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
+          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
+          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
+          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
+          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
+          as modifying the License.
+
+      You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
+      may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
+      for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
+      for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
+      reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
+      the conditions stated in this License.
+
+   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
+      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
+      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
+      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
+      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
+      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
+      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.
+
+   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
+      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
+      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
+      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
+
+   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
+      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
+      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
+      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
+      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
+      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
+      appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
+      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.
+
+   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
+      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
+      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
+      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
+      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
+      incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
+      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
+      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
+      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
+      other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
+      has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
+
+   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
+      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
+      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
+      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
+      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
+      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
+      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
+      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
+      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
+      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
+
+   END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
+
+   Copyright The Open vSwitch Authors
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 8f32d14397f0..be4de00a8be0 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ PYCOV_CLEAN_FILES = build-aux/check-structs,cover
 EXTRA_DIST = \
 	AUTHORS.rst \
 	CONTRIBUTING.rst \
+	LICENSE \
 	MAINTAINERS.rst \
 	README.rst \
 	NOTICE \
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 251e2bbe1de8..4c9d9edddcee 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -94,6 +94,39 @@ Each Open vSwitch userspace program is accompanied by a manpage.  Many of the
 manpages are customized to your configuration as part of the build process, so
 we recommend building Open vSwitch before reading the manpages.
 
+License
+-------
+
+The following is a summary of the licensing of files in this distribution.
+As mentioned, Open vSwitch is licensed under the open source Apache 2 license.
+Some files may be marked specifically with a different license, in which case
+that license applies to the file in question.
+
+
+Files under the datapath directory are licensed under the GNU General Public
+License, version 2.
+
+File build-aux/cccl is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2.
+
+The following files are licensed under the 2-clause BSD license.
+    include/windows/getopt.h
+    lib/getopt_long.c
+    lib/conntrack-tcp.c
+
+The following files are licensed under the 3-clause BSD-license
+    include/windows/netinet/icmp6.h
+    include/windows/netinet/ip6.h
+    lib/strsep.c
+
+Files under the xenserver directory are licensed on a file-by-file basis.
+Refer to each file for details.
+
+Files lib/sflow*.[ch] are licensed under the terms of either the
+Sun Industry Standards Source License 1.1, that is available at:
+        http://host-sflow.sourceforge.net/sissl.html
+or the InMon sFlow License, that is available at:
+        http://www.inmon.com/technology/sflowlicense.txt
+
 Contact
 -------
 
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index c847d2853f42..9d0a81f1a738 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -86,8 +86,7 @@ override_dh_install-indep:
 	rm -rf debian/$(PACKAGE_DKMS)/usr/src/$(PACKAGE)-$(DEB_VERSION_UPSTREAM)/rhel
 	# And we should also clean useless license files, which are already
 	# described in our debian/copyright anyway.
-	rm -f debian/$(PACKAGE_DKMS)/usr/src/$(PACKAGE)-$(DEB_VERSION_UPSTREAM)/COPYING \
-		debian/$(PACKAGE_DKMS)/usr/src/$(PACKAGE)-$(DEB_VERSION_UPSTREAM)/xenserver/LICENSE
+	rm -f debian/$(PACKAGE_DKMS)/usr/src/$(PACKAGE)-$(DEB_VERSION_UPSTREAM)/xenserver/LICENSE
 
 override_dh_installinit:
 	dh_installinit -R
diff --git a/rhel/openvswitch-fedora.spec.in b/rhel/openvswitch-fedora.spec.in
index 4f2398d977b1..658eb206cc78 100644
--- a/rhel/openvswitch-fedora.spec.in
+++ b/rhel/openvswitch-fedora.spec.in
@@ -485,12 +485,10 @@ fi
 
 %files -n %{_py2}-openvswitch
 %{python2_sitelib}/ovs
-%doc COPYING
 
 %if 0%{?fedora} > 22 || %{with build_python3}
 %files -n python3-openvswitch
 %{python3_sitelib}/ovs
-%doc COPYING
 %endif
 
 %files test
@@ -584,7 +582,7 @@ fi
 %if %{with dpdk}
 %{_prefix}/lib/udev/rules.d/91-vfio.rules
 %endif
-%doc COPYING NOTICE README.rst NEWS rhel/README.RHEL.rst
+%doc NOTICE README.rst NEWS rhel/README.RHEL.rst
 /var/lib/openvswitch
 %attr(755,-,-) /var/log/openvswitch
 %ghost %attr(755,root,root) %{_rundir}/openvswitch
diff --git a/rhel/openvswitch.spec.in b/rhel/openvswitch.spec.in
index f353a4bfacd1..2c5f0409a078 100644
--- a/rhel/openvswitch.spec.in
+++ b/rhel/openvswitch.spec.in
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ exit 0
 /usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/sysconfig.template
 /usr/share/openvswitch/vswitch.ovsschema
 /usr/share/openvswitch/vtep.ovsschema
-%doc COPYING NOTICE README.rst NEWS rhel/README.RHEL.rst
+%doc NOTICE README.rst NEWS rhel/README.RHEL.rst
 /var/lib/openvswitch
 /var/log/openvswitch
 
