diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 28a5183ff69..b9def834576 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+# Copyright The OpenTelemetry 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
+#
+#     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.
+
 EXAMPLES := $(shell ./get_main_pkgs.sh ./example)
 TOOLS_MOD_DIR := ./tools
 
@@ -51,7 +65,7 @@ test-with-coverage:
 	done
 
 .PHONY: ci
-ci: precommit check-clean-work-tree test-with-coverage test-386
+ci: precommit check-clean-work-tree license-check test-with-coverage test-386
 
 .PHONY: check-clean-work-tree
 check-clean-work-tree:
@@ -118,3 +132,13 @@ lint: $(TOOLS_DIR)/golangci-lint $(TOOLS_DIR)/misspell
 
 generate: $(TOOLS_DIR)/stringer
 	PATH="$(TOOLS_DIR):$${PATH}" go generate ./...
+
+.PHONY: license-check
+license-check:
+	@licRes=$$(for f in $$(find . -type f \( -iname '*.go' -o -iname '*.sh' \) ! -path './vendor/*') ; do \
+	           awk '/Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors|generated|GENERATED/ && NR<=3 { found=1; next } END { if (!found) print FILENAME }' $$f; \
+	   done); \
+	   if [ -n "$${licRes}" ]; then \
+	           echo "license header checking failed:"; echo "$${licRes}"; \
+	           exit 1; \
+	   fi
diff --git a/api/correlation/context.go b/api/correlation/context.go
index 8c4932ef9a7..aa83ac4e28a 100644
--- a/api/correlation/context.go
+++ b/api/correlation/context.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/api/correlation/doc.go b/api/correlation/doc.go
index d6a9fe5fb05..1147a4f3997 100644
--- a/api/correlation/doc.go
+++ b/api/correlation/doc.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/api/correlation/map.go b/api/correlation/map.go
index 13383f25332..79a4f1868b5 100644
--- a/api/correlation/map.go
+++ b/api/correlation/map.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/api/correlation/map_test.go b/api/correlation/map_test.go
index 8002a3f646b..de0db6c6d5e 100644
--- a/api/correlation/map_test.go
+++ b/api/correlation/map_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/api/metric/must.go b/api/metric/must.go
index 3bea881a347..69697a822e2 100644
--- a/api/metric/must.go
+++ b/api/metric/must.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/example/grpc/api/hello-service.proto b/example/grpc/api/hello-service.proto
index 9f87c7ca95a..ecdafc79dfa 100644
--- a/example/grpc/api/hello-service.proto
+++ b/example/grpc/api/hello-service.proto
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2019, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/example/http/server/modd.conf b/example/http/server/modd.conf
index da54262c7da..22ec99d907d 100644
--- a/example/http/server/modd.conf
+++ b/example/http/server/modd.conf
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+# Copyright The OpenTelemetry 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
+#
+#     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.
+
 # A basic modd.conf file for Go development.
 
 # Run go test on ALL modules on startup, and subsequently only on modules
diff --git a/example/zipkin/main.go b/example/zipkin/main.go
index 57b5cdd7d5f..dbc33c5d048 100644
--- a/example/zipkin/main.go
+++ b/example/zipkin/main.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/alignment_test.go b/exporters/otlp/alignment_test.go
index 7a9ccfac44f..f20a0bd1b2d 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/alignment_test.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/alignment_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/connection.go b/exporters/otlp/connection.go
index 3e01f814888..530d7a244c5 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/connection.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/connection.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/doc.go b/exporters/otlp/doc.go
index 0445f087943..f8d105d1cbd 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/doc.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/doc.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/example_test.go b/exporters/otlp/example_test.go
index 7c1db6b0464..01635566284 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/example_test.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/example_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/metric.go b/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/metric.go
index b52e0f5d17c..6c03fc5d0d1 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/metric.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/metric.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/metric_test.go b/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/metric_test.go
index 7a7bf94a90b..e7a72b14871 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/metric_test.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/metric_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/resource_test.go b/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/resource_test.go
index 138d0223ab5..a5193ff315f 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/resource_test.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/resource_test.go
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry 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
+//
+//     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.
+
 package transform
 
 import (
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/span_test.go b/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/span_test.go
index 7a77036dab9..9918c0d9253 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/span_test.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/internal/transform/span_test.go
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry 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
+//
+//     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.
+
 package transform
 
 import (
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/mock_collector_test.go b/exporters/otlp/mock_collector_test.go
index 09898e0b6ce..6b3284c3846 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/mock_collector_test.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/mock_collector_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/options.go b/exporters/otlp/options.go
index 304f5895681..6bccada8296 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/options.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/options.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/otlp.go b/exporters/otlp/otlp.go
index 73d57cfe5ef..60207e9b099 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/otlp.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/otlp.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/otlp_test.go b/exporters/otlp/otlp_test.go
index 414b0206f80..3c0b46e09a5 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/otlp_test.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/otlp_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/plugin/othttp/filters/filters.go b/plugin/othttp/filters/filters.go
index d4e84b60434..de8b888dedc 100644
--- a/plugin/othttp/filters/filters.go
+++ b/plugin/othttp/filters/filters.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/plugin/othttp/filters/filters_test.go b/plugin/othttp/filters/filters_test.go
index d10dfd1b5b7..b880df0248d 100644
--- a/plugin/othttp/filters/filters_test.go
+++ b/plugin/othttp/filters/filters_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/plugin/othttp/filters/header_go14.go b/plugin/othttp/filters/header_go14.go
index a563bfd3c1a..9d0a61cb213 100644
--- a/plugin/othttp/filters/header_go14.go
+++ b/plugin/othttp/filters/header_go14.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/plugin/othttp/filters/header_nongo14.go b/plugin/othttp/filters/header_nongo14.go
index 7a5ffa3c136..a36d759098f 100644
--- a/plugin/othttp/filters/header_nongo14.go
+++ b/plugin/othttp/filters/header_nongo14.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/export/metric/metric.go b/sdk/export/metric/metric.go
index e231e234a0d..afe6da1cd34 100644
--- a/sdk/export/metric/metric.go
+++ b/sdk/export/metric/metric.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/export/metric/metric_test.go b/sdk/export/metric/metric_test.go
index 11130ce9220..d7bcf38fb92 100644
--- a/sdk/export/metric/metric_test.go
+++ b/sdk/export/metric/metric_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/internal/state_locker.go b/sdk/internal/state_locker.go
index 253377cc3c9..3784728e5dc 100644
--- a/sdk/internal/state_locker.go
+++ b/sdk/internal/state_locker.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram/histogram.go b/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram/histogram.go
index d451579285e..e5fa397f269 100644
--- a/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram/histogram.go
+++ b/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram/histogram.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram/histogram_test.go b/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram/histogram_test.go
index 59d1831d7b0..68eaf2f0f62 100644
--- a/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram/histogram_test.go
+++ b/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram/histogram_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/metric/histogram_stress_test.go b/sdk/metric/histogram_stress_test.go
index 420aa89d866..32b3f593d5a 100644
--- a/sdk/metric/histogram_stress_test.go
+++ b/sdk/metric/histogram_stress_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/metric/minmaxsumcount_stress_test.go b/sdk/metric/minmaxsumcount_stress_test.go
index eefea976d37..b5a7e6eab89 100644
--- a/sdk/metric/minmaxsumcount_stress_test.go
+++ b/sdk/metric/minmaxsumcount_stress_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/metric/refcount_mapped.go b/sdk/metric/refcount_mapped.go
index b180dd1a77b..68bc6e78aba 100644
--- a/sdk/metric/refcount_mapped.go
+++ b/sdk/metric/refcount_mapped.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/metric/stress_test.go b/sdk/metric/stress_test.go
index 170e4936227..8159ac932bf 100644
--- a/sdk/metric/stress_test.go
+++ b/sdk/metric/stress_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/resource/resource.go b/sdk/resource/resource.go
index cc45075c4ba..fcfa1089361 100644
--- a/sdk/resource/resource.go
+++ b/sdk/resource/resource.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/resource/resource_test.go b/sdk/resource/resource_test.go
index b0f2e6778ee..6df2865c0eb 100644
--- a/sdk/resource/resource_test.go
+++ b/sdk/resource/resource_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/resource/resourcekeys/const.go b/sdk/resource/resourcekeys/const.go
index 32cefc57d6f..5adc993ddda 100644
--- a/sdk/resource/resourcekeys/const.go
+++ b/sdk/resource/resourcekeys/const.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/sdk/trace/sampling_test.go b/sdk/trace/sampling_test.go
index c5165dc96d0..5a83a183c1e 100644
--- a/sdk/trace/sampling_test.go
+++ b/sdk/trace/sampling_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.