diff --git a/.header b/.header
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..27cdf03df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.header
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The prometheus-operator 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.
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index fd4381bbb..9c6ba67cb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 build:
+	./scripts/check_license.sh
 	go build github.com/coreos/prometheus-operator/cmd/operator
 
 container:
diff --git a/cmd/operator/main.go b/cmd/operator/main.go
index 9e77075ee..d597d86ba 100644
--- a/cmd/operator/main.go
+++ b/cmd/operator/main.go
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The prometheus-operator 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 main
 
 import (
diff --git a/pkg/controller/client.go b/pkg/controller/client.go
index cc51f079a..449d725a0 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/client.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/client.go
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The prometheus-operator 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 controller
 
 import (
diff --git a/pkg/controller/controller.go b/pkg/controller/controller.go
index 879d00b17..20953e745 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/controller.go
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The prometheus-operator 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 controller
 
 import (
diff --git a/pkg/controller/petset.go b/pkg/controller/petset.go
index be660a047..91d4ef8cb 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/petset.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/petset.go
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The prometheus-operator 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 controller
 
 import (
diff --git a/pkg/controller/promcfg.go b/pkg/controller/promcfg.go
index 7a11189d9..2fb7469b1 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/promcfg.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/promcfg.go
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The prometheus-operator 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 controller
 
 import (
diff --git a/pkg/spec/spec.go b/pkg/spec/spec.go
index 1ac8fe898..61fcbd595 100644
--- a/pkg/spec/spec.go
+++ b/pkg/spec/spec.go
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The prometheus-operator 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 spec
 
 import (
diff --git a/scripts/check_license.sh b/scripts/check_license.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..d3882c6b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check_license.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+licRes=$(
+for file in $(find . -type f -iname '*.go' ! -path './vendor/*'); do
+	head -n3 "${file}" | grep -Eq "(Copyright|generated|GENERATED)" || echo -e "  ${file}"
+done;)
+if [ -n "${licRes}" ]; then
+	echo -e "license header checking failed:\n${licRes}"
+	exit 255
+fi