diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
index dd0581f45..b04304ea0 100644
--- a/COPYING
+++ b/COPYING
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-This software is licenced under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENCE Version
+This software is licensed under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENCE Version
 2. Except that any software in the lib/ directory is for the creation of a
 linkable library to the tools and is licensed under the GNU LESSER GENERAL
 PUBLIC LICENCE Version 2.1.  Contributing Authors agree that their code is