diff --git a/lib/tasks/copyright.rake b/lib/tasks/copyright.rake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cf1e3b04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tasks/copyright.rake
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+namespace :copyright do
+  desc "Update the copyright on the source files"
+  task :update do
+    short_copyright = File.readlines("doc/COPYRIGHT_short.rdoc").collect do |line|
+      "# #{line}"
+    end.join("")
+
+    short_copyright_as_rdoc = "#-- copyright\n" + short_copyright + "#++"
+
+    Dir['**/**{.rb,.rake}'].each do |file_name|
+      # Skip 3rd party code
+      next if file_name.include?("vendor") ||
+        file_name.include?("lib/SVG") ||
+        file_name.include?("lib/faster_csv") ||
+        file_name.include?("lib/redcloth") ||
+        file_name.include?("lib/diff")
+      next if file_name.include?("lib/tasks/copyright") # skip self
+      next if file_name.include?("unified_diff_test") # confict
+
+      file_content = File.read(file_name)
+      @copyright_regex = /#-- copyright.*\+\+/m
+      if file_content.match(@copyright_regex)
+        file_content.gsub!(@copyright_regex, short_copyright_as_rdoc)
+      else
+        file_content = short_copyright_as_rdoc + "\n\n" + file_content # Prepend
+      end
+      
+      File.open(file_name, "w") do |file|
+        file.write file_content
+      end
+      
+    end
+    
+  end
+end