diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
index 31ecdfb1d..9e27bd784 100644
--- a/LICENSE
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -1,19 +1,21 @@
+The MIT License (MIT)
 
-  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
-  of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
-  in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
-  to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
-  copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
-  furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
-     
-  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
-  copies or substantial portions of the Software.
- 
-  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
-  IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
-  FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
-  AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
-  LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
-  OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
-  SOFTWARE.
+Copyright (c) 2004-2016 Holger Krekel and others
 
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
+this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
+the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
+use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies
+of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do
+so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 2a4d7839f..1f12e5141 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -96,4 +96,7 @@ License
 -------
 
 Copyright Holger Krekel and others, 2004-2016.
-Licensed under the MIT license.
+
+Distributed under the terms of the `MIT`_ license, pytest is free and open source software.
+
+.. _`MIT`: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/blob/master/LICENSE
diff --git a/doc/en/_templates/globaltoc.html b/doc/en/_templates/globaltoc.html
index f764729fd..af427198a 100644
--- a/doc/en/_templates/globaltoc.html
+++ b/doc/en/_templates/globaltoc.html
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
   <li><a href="{{ pathto('contact') }}">Contact</a></li>
   <li><a href="{{ pathto('talks') }}">Talks/Posts</a></li>
   <li><a href="{{ pathto('changelog') }}">Changelog</a></li>
+  <li><a href="{{ pathto('license') }}">License</a></li>
 </ul>
 
 {%- if display_toc %}
diff --git a/doc/en/index.rst b/doc/en/index.rst
index 09e342e22..04b4512da 100644
--- a/doc/en/index.rst
+++ b/doc/en/index.rst
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ pytest: helps you write better programs
 **a mature full-featured Python testing tool**
 
  - runs on Posix/Windows, Python 2.6-3.5, PyPy and (possibly still) Jython-2.5.1
+ - free and open source software, distributed under the terms of the :ref:`MIT license <license>`
  - **well tested** with more than a thousand tests against itself
  - **strict backward compatibility policy** for safe pytest upgrades
  - :ref:`comprehensive online <toc>` and `PDF documentation <pytest.pdf>`_
diff --git a/doc/en/license.rst b/doc/en/license.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3fc1dad52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/en/license.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+.. _license:
+
+License
+-------
+
+Distributed under the terms of the `MIT`_ license, pytest is free and open source software.
+
+::
+
+    The MIT License (MIT)
+
+    Copyright (c) 2004-2016 Holger Krekel and others
+
+    Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
+    this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
+    the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
+    use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies
+    of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do
+    so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+    The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+    copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+    THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+    IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+    FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+    AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+    LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+    OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+    SOFTWARE.
+
+.. _`MIT`: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/blob/master/LICENSE