diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46f4ec7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Public Domain notice
+
+National Center for Biotechnology Information.
+
+This software is a "United States Government Work" under the terms of the United States
+Copyright Act. It was written as part of the authors' official duties as United States
+Government employees and thus cannot be copyrighted. This software is freely available
+to the public for use. The National Library of Medicine and the U.S. Government have not
+ placed any restriction on its use or reproduction.
+
+Although all reasonable efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy and reliability
+of the software and data, the NLM and the U.S. Government do not and cannot warrant the
+performance or results that may be obtained by using this software or data. The NLM and
+the U.S. Government disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties
+of performance, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.
+
+Please cite NCBI in any work or product based on this material.
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 24d1028..2f28a13 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -44,3 +44,20 @@ Clone the libBigWig repository from GitHub: https://github.com/dpryan79/libBigWi
 
     docker run -v `pwd`:/data bamscale BAMscale scale --bam <BAM_FILE> [--bam <BAM2> .. --bam <BAMn>]
 
+# Public Domain notice
+
+National Center for Biotechnology Information.
+
+This software is a "United States Government Work" under the terms of the United States
+Copyright Act. It was written as part of the authors' official duties as United States
+Government employees and thus cannot be copyrighted. This software is freely available
+to the public for use. The National Library of Medicine and the U.S. Government have not
+ placed any restriction on its use or reproduction.
+
+Although all reasonable efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy and reliability
+of the software and data, the NLM and the U.S. Government do not and cannot warrant the
+performance or results that may be obtained by using this software or data. The NLM and
+the U.S. Government disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties
+of performance, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.
+
+Please cite NCBI in any work or product based on this material.
diff --git a/nbproject/configurations.xml b/nbproject/configurations.xml
index 1ab60b3..11146ca 100644
--- a/nbproject/configurations.xml
+++ b/nbproject/configurations.xml
@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@
                    kind="IMPORTANT_FILES_FOLDER">
       <itemPath>Makefile</itemPath>
     </logicalFolder>
+    <itemPath>.gitignore</itemPath>
     <itemPath>Dockerfile</itemPath>
+    <itemPath>LICENSE</itemPath>
+    <itemPath>README.md</itemPath>
   </logicalFolder>
   <sourceRootList>
     <Elem>src</Elem>
@@ -83,8 +86,14 @@
           <commandLine>-lBigWig -lhts -lz -lm -lbz2 -llzma -lcurl -ldl -lpthread</commandLine>
         </linkerTool>
       </compileType>
+      <item path=".gitignore" ex="false" tool="3" flavor2="0">
+      </item>
       <item path="Dockerfile" ex="false" tool="3" flavor2="0">
       </item>
+      <item path="LICENSE" ex="false" tool="3" flavor2="0">
+      </item>
+      <item path="README.md" ex="false" tool="3" flavor2="0">
+      </item>
       <item path="includes/BAMcoverage.h" ex="false" tool="3" flavor2="0">
       </item>
       <item path="includes/BAMstructs.h" ex="false" tool="3" flavor2="0">