diff --git a/examples/LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt b/examples/LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c69b87af3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+The intent of the example programs supplied with the dlib C++ library is
+to both instruct users and to also provide a simple body of code they
+may copy and paste from.  To make this as painless as possible all the
+example programs have been placed into the public domain.  
+
+
+This work is hereby released into the Public Domain. 
+To view a copy of the public domain dedication, visit 
+http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/ or send a 
+letter to 
+    Creative Commons 
+    171 Second Street 
+    Suite 300, 
+    San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
+
+
+
+Public domain dedications are not recognized by some countries.  So
+if you live in an area where the above dedication isn't valid then
+you can consider the example programs to be licensed under the Boost
+Software License.   
+
diff --git a/examples/bayes_net_ex.cpp b/examples/bayes_net_ex.cpp
index ba5961f17..b886ba557 100644
--- a/examples/bayes_net_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/bayes_net_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the Bayesian Network 
     inference utilities found in the dlib C++ library.
diff --git a/examples/bayes_net_from_disk_ex.cpp b/examples/bayes_net_from_disk_ex.cpp
index 1970e3746..67fe55ea5 100644
--- a/examples/bayes_net_from_disk_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/bayes_net_from_disk_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the Bayesian Network 
     inference utilities found in the dlib C++ library.  In this example
diff --git a/examples/bayes_net_gui_ex.cpp b/examples/bayes_net_gui_ex.cpp
index 53ba5d0eb..b92d8d998 100644
--- a/examples/bayes_net_gui_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/bayes_net_gui_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is a rather involved example illustrating the use of the GUI api from 
     the dlib C++ Library.   This program is a fully functional utility for
diff --git a/examples/compress_stream_ex.cpp b/examples/compress_stream_ex.cpp
index e2517535c..717c899ca 100755
--- a/examples/compress_stream_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/compress_stream_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the compress_stream and
diff --git a/examples/dir_nav_ex.cpp b/examples/dir_nav_ex.cpp
index e7b76ebff..ec57ae1d6 100755
--- a/examples/dir_nav_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/dir_nav_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the dir_nav component from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/file_to_code_ex.cpp b/examples/file_to_code_ex.cpp
index 54af8e8b2..6a7bc86c6 100644
--- a/examples/file_to_code_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/file_to_code_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the compress_stream and
     base64 components from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/gui_api_ex.cpp b/examples/gui_api_ex.cpp
index ae98ce6c9..e4b9e3111 100644
--- a/examples/gui_api_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/gui_api_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the gui api from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/image_ex.cpp b/examples/image_ex.cpp
index 3478eeff0..c35c4d25c 100644
--- a/examples/image_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/image_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the GUI API as well as some 
diff --git a/examples/kcentroid_ex.cpp b/examples/kcentroid_ex.cpp
index a0b91b7a2..49e6a49ae 100644
--- a/examples/kcentroid_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/kcentroid_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the kcentroid object 
     from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/kkmeans_ex.cpp b/examples/kkmeans_ex.cpp
index fd6112d4c..42259d136 100644
--- a/examples/kkmeans_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/kkmeans_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the kkmeans object 
     from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/krls_ex.cpp b/examples/krls_ex.cpp
index 1becb27e7..7e38fd26e 100644
--- a/examples/krls_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/krls_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the krls object 
     from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/krls_filter_ex.cpp b/examples/krls_filter_ex.cpp
index fb2d1a792..886ea0b09 100644
--- a/examples/krls_filter_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/krls_filter_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the krls object 
     from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/logger_ex.cpp b/examples/logger_ex.cpp
index 4ebbdf3c6..45b68ab59 100644
--- a/examples/logger_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/logger_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 
 /*
 
diff --git a/examples/logger_ex_2.cpp b/examples/logger_ex_2.cpp
index 4d16447b8..faee6675a 100644
--- a/examples/logger_ex_2.cpp
+++ b/examples/logger_ex_2.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 
 /*
 
diff --git a/examples/matrix_ex.cpp b/examples/matrix_ex.cpp
index f6938b790..2b7e6356a 100644
--- a/examples/matrix_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/matrix_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the matrix object 
diff --git a/examples/member_function_pointer_ex.cpp b/examples/member_function_pointer_ex.cpp
index 04ea79a2e..efe977f00 100644
--- a/examples/member_function_pointer_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/member_function_pointer_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the member_function_pointer object 
diff --git a/examples/mlp_ex.cpp b/examples/mlp_ex.cpp
index 4521dd908..f7416a14c 100644
--- a/examples/mlp_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/mlp_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the multilayer perceptron 
diff --git a/examples/multithreaded_object_ex.cpp b/examples/multithreaded_object_ex.cpp
index 6dd06e330..ca8bdab4c 100644
--- a/examples/multithreaded_object_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/multithreaded_object_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the multithreaded_object.
diff --git a/examples/optimization_ex.cpp b/examples/optimization_ex.cpp
index 5ecdce408..dcd4195e4 100755
--- a/examples/optimization_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/optimization_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use the optimization 
diff --git a/examples/pipe_ex.cpp b/examples/pipe_ex.cpp
index 5c9d286de..86dacdd8f 100644
--- a/examples/pipe_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/pipe_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 
 
 /*
diff --git a/examples/pipe_ex_2.cpp b/examples/pipe_ex_2.cpp
index b9e8eea51..be509371b 100644
--- a/examples/pipe_ex_2.cpp
+++ b/examples/pipe_ex_2.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 
 
 /*
diff --git a/examples/quantum_computing_ex.cpp b/examples/quantum_computing_ex.cpp
index d2b39278b..fe1bee3c3 100644
--- a/examples/quantum_computing_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/quantum_computing_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the quantum computing
     simulation classes from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/queue_ex.cpp b/examples/queue_ex.cpp
index 0d6a7272f..6391a1b6e 100755
--- a/examples/queue_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/queue_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the queue component (and 
diff --git a/examples/rank_features_ex.cpp b/examples/rank_features_ex.cpp
index e36bb3653..935bf60bd 100644
--- a/examples/rank_features_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/rank_features_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the rank_features() function 
diff --git a/examples/rvm_ex.cpp b/examples/rvm_ex.cpp
index 79c81997c..2b120d3d6 100644
--- a/examples/rvm_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/rvm_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the relevance vector machine
diff --git a/examples/rvm_regression_ex.cpp b/examples/rvm_regression_ex.cpp
index 8ee14032f..a78c4a00b 100644
--- a/examples/rvm_regression_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/rvm_regression_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the RVM regression object 
     from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/server_http_ex.cpp b/examples/server_http_ex.cpp
index 6fc22d4da..fc18c9112 100755
--- a/examples/server_http_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/server_http_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This example illustrates the use of the HTTP extension to the server object 
diff --git a/examples/sockets_ex.cpp b/examples/sockets_ex.cpp
index b4840224f..f606df5c8 100755
--- a/examples/sockets_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/sockets_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the sockets and
diff --git a/examples/sockets_ex_2.cpp b/examples/sockets_ex_2.cpp
index 16916c236..873ae95c3 100755
--- a/examples/sockets_ex_2.cpp
+++ b/examples/sockets_ex_2.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the sockets and
diff --git a/examples/sockstreambuf_ex.cpp b/examples/sockstreambuf_ex.cpp
index 867576ac8..c6e8cefcc 100644
--- a/examples/sockstreambuf_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/sockstreambuf_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the sockets,
diff --git a/examples/std_allocator_ex.cpp b/examples/std_allocator_ex.cpp
index 60e999ec6..479d718f9 100644
--- a/examples/std_allocator_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/std_allocator_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is an example illustrating the use of the dlib::std_allocator object.
 
diff --git a/examples/svm_ex.cpp b/examples/svm_ex.cpp
index 01588d7ba..7b145e254 100644
--- a/examples/svm_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/svm_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the support vector machine
diff --git a/examples/thread_function_ex.cpp b/examples/thread_function_ex.cpp
index 068621c8a..1fc2d50f0 100644
--- a/examples/thread_function_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/thread_function_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
     This is a very simple example that illustrates the use of the
     thread_function object from the dlib C++ Library.
diff --git a/examples/thread_pool_ex.cpp b/examples/thread_pool_ex.cpp
index dc8ffcfa8..2ce78d449 100644
--- a/examples/thread_pool_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/thread_pool_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the thread_pool 
diff --git a/examples/threaded_object_ex.cpp b/examples/threaded_object_ex.cpp
index f58f86139..d7edbdecd 100644
--- a/examples/threaded_object_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/threaded_object_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the threaded_object 
diff --git a/examples/threads_ex.cpp b/examples/threads_ex.cpp
index 4fce98bea..67a363afe 100644
--- a/examples/threads_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/threads_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 
 /*
 
diff --git a/examples/timer_ex.cpp b/examples/timer_ex.cpp
index ed4ef3b6d..415c7e38c 100644
--- a/examples/timer_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/timer_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 
 
 /*
diff --git a/examples/xml_parser_ex.cpp b/examples/xml_parser_ex.cpp
index 3a4f41d72..35f220ab1 100755
--- a/examples/xml_parser_ex.cpp
+++ b/examples/xml_parser_ex.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// The contents of this file are in the public domain. See LICENSE_FOR_EXAMPLE_PROGRAMS.txt
 /*
 
     This is an example illustrating the use of the xml_parser component in