diff --git a/examples/add.c b/examples/add.c
index 999a41e64..336596bde 100644
--- a/examples/add.c
+++ b/examples/add.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "add" example - shows how to modify the index
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/cat-file.c b/examples/cat-file.c
index 5e547628a..fa6add07b 100644
--- a/examples/cat-file.c
+++ b/examples/cat-file.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "cat-file" example - shows how to print data from the ODB
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/common.c b/examples/common.c
index 5972bc5c7..12dbccf59 100644
--- a/examples/common.c
+++ b/examples/common.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * Utilities library for libgit2 examples
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/common.h b/examples/common.h
index 5ffc9c8eb..2fd7d579f 100644
--- a/examples/common.h
+++ b/examples/common.h
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * Utilities library for libgit2 examples
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include <stdio.h>
diff --git a/examples/diff.c b/examples/diff.c
index b1415648a..daf5d7030 100644
--- a/examples/diff.c
+++ b/examples/diff.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "diff" example - shows how to use the diff API
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/general.c b/examples/general.c
index d7a58479c..f23dccb47 100644
--- a/examples/general.c
+++ b/examples/general.c
@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
+/*
+ * libgit2 "general" example - shows basic libgit2 concepts
+ *
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
+ */
+
 // [**libgit2**][lg] is a portable, pure C implementation of the Git core
 // methods provided as a re-entrant linkable library with a solid API,
 // allowing you to write native speed custom Git applications in any
diff --git a/examples/init.c b/examples/init.c
index 1c371252e..0e823ab81 100644
--- a/examples/init.c
+++ b/examples/init.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "init" example - shows how to initialize a new repo
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/log.c b/examples/log.c
index a36d4c95e..471c5ff96 100644
--- a/examples/log.c
+++ b/examples/log.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "log" example - shows how to walk history and get commit info
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/rev-list.c b/examples/rev-list.c
index 9330c644c..5c0d751a3 100644
--- a/examples/rev-list.c
+++ b/examples/rev-list.c
@@ -1,8 +1,16 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "rev-list" example - shows how to transform a rev-spec into a list
+ * of commit ids
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/rev-parse.c b/examples/rev-parse.c
index 64a02fe6e..a24833767 100644
--- a/examples/rev-parse.c
+++ b/examples/rev-parse.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "rev-parse" example - shows how to parse revspecs
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/showindex.c b/examples/showindex.c
index bf852384c..de463e266 100644
--- a/examples/showindex.c
+++ b/examples/showindex.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "showindex" example - shows how to extract data from the index
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"
diff --git a/examples/status.c b/examples/status.c
index 459e6fafb..e2e2b6026 100644
--- a/examples/status.c
+++ b/examples/status.c
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * libgit2 "status" example - shows how to use the status APIs
  *
- * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
- * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ * Written by the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * To the extent possible under law, the author(s) have dedicated all copyright
+ * and related and neighboring rights to this software to the public domain
+ * worldwide. This software is distributed without any warranty.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the CC0 Public Domain Dedication along
+ * with this software. If not, see
+ * <http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>.
  */
 
 #include "common.h"