diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
index 06ba7ee04c..63a1963452 100644
--- a/RELEASING.md
+++ b/RELEASING.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Things to do before issuing a new release:
 
 * Bump the version numbers in example and test poms to the next release version. e.g. 2.0.0
 
-* Build the release locally: mvn clean install -DskipLicenseCheck=false -Prelease
+* Build the release locally: mvn clean install -Prelease
 
 * Test the standalone release (this should be done on windows as well as linux):
 1. Unpack the distribution zip or tar.gz
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index c90442590d..b27167e036 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@
          -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true
       </activemq-surefire-argline>
       <activemq.basedir>${project.basedir}</activemq.basedir>
-      <skipLicenseCheck>true</skipLicenseCheck>
+      <skipLicenseCheck>false</skipLicenseCheck>
       <skipStyleCheck>false</skipStyleCheck>
       <geronimo.jms.2.spec.version>1.0-alpha-1</geronimo.jms.2.spec.version>
    </properties>
@@ -899,12 +899,48 @@
                <failOnError>false</failOnError>
             </configuration>
          </plugin>
+         <plugin>
+            <groupId>com.mycila</groupId>
+            <artifactId>license-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <version>2.6</version>
+            <configuration>
+               <skip>${skipLicenseCheck}</skip>
+               <basedir>${activemq.basedir}</basedir>
+               <header>etc/license-header.txt</header>
+               <quiet>false</quiet>
+               <failIfMissing>true</failIfMissing>
+               <includes>
+                  <include>**/*.java</include>
+               </includes>
+               <excludes>
+                  <exclude>**/filter/impl/Identifier.java</exclude>
+                  <exclude>**/filter/impl/Operator.java</exclude>
+                  <exclude>**/filter/impl/RegExp.java</exclude>
+                  <exclude>**/utils/UUID*.java</exclude>
+                  <exclude>**/org/apache/activemq/selector/**</exclude>
+                  <exclude>**/org/apache/activemq/utils/json/**</exclude>
+                  <exclude>**/org/apache/activemq/utils/Base64.java</exclude>
+               </excludes>
+               <useDefaultExcludes>true</useDefaultExcludes>
+               <strictCheck>true</strictCheck>
+               <mapping>
+                  <java>JAVADOC_STYLE</java>
+               </mapping>
+            </configuration>
+            <executions>
+               <execution>
+                  <phase>compile</phase>
+                  <goals>
+                     <goal>check</goal>
+                  </goals>
+               </execution>
+            </executions>
+         </plugin>
          <plugin>
             <groupId>org.apache.rat</groupId>
             <artifactId>apache-rat-plugin</artifactId>
             <version>0.11</version>
             <configuration>
-               <skip>${skipLicenseCheck}</skip>
                <excludes>
                   <exclude>**/*.bin</exclude>
                   <exclude>**/*.log</exclude>