diff --git a/libvips/foreign/libnsgif/COPYING b/libvips/foreign/libnsgif/COPYING
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9334b89b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libvips/foreign/libnsgif/COPYING
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+Copyright (C) 2004 Richard Wilson
+Copyright (C) 2008 Sean Fox
+Copyright (C) 2013-2021 Michael Drake
+
+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/libvips/foreign/libnsgif/update.sh b/libvips/foreign/libnsgif/update.sh
index cd05d2be..3b1654f8 100755
--- a/libvips/foreign/libnsgif/update.sh
+++ b/libvips/foreign/libnsgif/update.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ git clone git://git.netsurf-browser.org/libnsgif.git
 echo copying out source files ...
 
 cp libnsgif/README.md README-ns.md
+cp libnsgif/COPYING .
 
 cp libnsgif/include/nsgif.h .
 cp libnsgif/src/lzw.[ch] .