diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/LicenseHeadersTask.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/LicenseHeadersTask.groovy
index e680a546f5b..580c089461a 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/LicenseHeadersTask.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/LicenseHeadersTask.groovy
@@ -66,37 +66,12 @@ public class LicenseHeadersTask extends DefaultTask {
                }
 
                // BSD 4-clause stuff (is disallowed below)
+               // we keep this here, in case someone adds BSD code for some reason, it should never be allowed.
                substringMatcher(licenseFamilyCategory: "BSD4 ",
                                 licenseFamilyName:     "Original BSD License (with advertising clause)") {
                    pattern(substring: "All advertising materials")
                }
 
-               // BSD-like stuff
-               substringMatcher(licenseFamilyCategory: "BSD  ",
-                                licenseFamilyName:     "Modified BSD License") {
-                   // brics automaton
-                   pattern(substring: "Copyright (c) 2001-2009 Anders Moeller")
-                   // snowball
-                   pattern(substring: "Copyright (c) 2001, Dr Martin Porter")
-                   // UMASS kstem
-                   pattern(substring: "THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AND OTHER CONTRIBUTORS")
-                   // Egothor
-                   pattern(substring: "Egothor Software License version 1.00")
-                   // JaSpell
-                   pattern(substring: "Copyright (c) 2005 Bruno Martins")
-                   // d3.js
-                   pattern(substring: "THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS")
-                   // highlight.js
-                   pattern(substring: "THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS")
-               }
-
-               // MIT-like
-               substringMatcher(licenseFamilyCategory: "MIT  ",
-                                licenseFamilyName:     "The MIT License") {
-                   // ICU license
-                   pattern(substring: "Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy")
-               }
-
                // Apache
                substringMatcher(licenseFamilyCategory: "AL   ",
                                 licenseFamilyName:     "Apache") {
@@ -111,20 +86,12 @@ public class LicenseHeadersTask extends DefaultTask {
                // Generated resources
                substringMatcher(licenseFamilyCategory: "GEN  ",
                                 licenseFamilyName:     "Generated") {
-                   // svg files generated by gnuplot
-                   pattern(substring: "Produced by GNUPLOT")
-                   // snowball stemmers generated by snowball compiler
-                   pattern(substring: "This file was generated automatically by the Snowball to Java compiler")
-                   // uima tests generated by JCasGen
-                   pattern(substring: "First created by JCasGen")
                    // parsers generated by antlr
                    pattern(substring: "ANTLR GENERATED CODE")
                }
                 
                // approved categories
                approvedLicense(familyName: "Apache")
-               approvedLicense(familyName: "The MIT License")
-               approvedLicense(familyName: "Modified BSD License")
                approvedLicense(familyName: "Generated") 
         }