diff --git a/.Rbuildignore b/.Rbuildignore
index 7bdd9c973..965a4f045 100644
--- a/.Rbuildignore
+++ b/.Rbuildignore
@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@
 ^CRAN-RELEASE$
 ^data-raw$
 ^\.ccache$
+^LICENSE\.md$
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 15bbf22e7..ed4dba3e8 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Authors@R:
 Description: Provides 'pillar' and 'colonnade' generics designed
     for formatting columns of data using the full range of colours
     provided by modern terminals.
-License: GPL-3
+License: MIT + file LICENSE
 URL: https://pillar.r-lib.org/, https://github.com/r-lib/pillar
 BugReports: https://github.com/r-lib/pillar/issues
 Imports: 
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d11d37df5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+YEAR: 2020
+COPYRIGHT HOLDER: pillar authors
diff --git a/LICENSE.md b/LICENSE.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..254c70fad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2020 pillar authors
+
+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/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index f52596927..142d96e38 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 - Documentation and tests (#202).
 
+- pillar has been re-licensed as MIT (#215).
+
 
 # pillar 1.4.99.9001