diff --git a/tool/sync_default_gems.rb b/tool/sync_default_gems.rb
index 935b9ef0d7..69ddab6899 100644
--- a/tool/sync_default_gems.rb
+++ b/tool/sync_default_gems.rb
@@ -354,6 +354,7 @@ IGNORE_FILE_PATTERN =
   |[^\/]+\.yml
   |\.git.*
   |[A-Z]\w+file
+  |COPYING
   )\z/x
 
 def message_filter(repo, sha)