diff --git a/pre-upload.py b/pre-upload.py
index 716c83b..9ffa89c 100755
--- a/pre-upload.py
+++ b/pre-upload.py
@@ -1053,18 +1053,18 @@
   """
   # For older years, be a bit more flexible as our policy says leave them be.
   LICENSE_HEADER = (
-      r'.* Copyright( \(c\))? 20[-0-9]{2,7} The Chromium OS Authors\. '
+      r'.*Copyright( \(c\))? 20[-0-9]{2,7} The Chromium OS Authors\. '
       r'All rights reserved\.' r'\n'
-      r'.* Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can '
+      r'.*Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can '
       r'be\n'
-      r'.* found in the LICENSE file\.'
+      r'.*found in the LICENSE file\.'
       r'\n'
   )
   license_re = re.compile(LICENSE_HEADER, re.MULTILINE)
 
   # For newer years, be stricter.
   COPYRIGHT_LINE = (
-      r'.* Copyright \(c\) 20(1[5-9]|[2-9][0-9]) The Chromium OS Authors\. '
+      r'.*Copyright \(c\) 20(1[5-9]|[2-9][0-9]) The Chromium OS Authors\. '
       r'All rights reserved\.' r'\n'
   )
   copyright_re = re.compile(COPYRIGHT_LINE)
diff --git a/pre-upload_unittest.py b/pre-upload_unittest.py
index 4091fca..115da98 100755
--- a/pre-upload_unittest.py
+++ b/pre-upload_unittest.py
@@ -754,6 +754,19 @@
       self.content_mock.return_value = header
       self.assertNotEqual(None, pre_upload._check_cros_license('proj', 'sha1'))
 
+  def testNoLeadingSpace(self):
+    """Allow headers without leading space (e.g., not a source comment)"""
+    HEADERS = (
+        ('Copyright 2018 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.\n'
+         'Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that '
+         'can be\n'
+         'found in the LICENSE file.\n'),
+    )
+    self.file_mock.return_value = ['file']
+    for header in HEADERS:
+      self.content_mock.return_value = header
+      self.assertEqual(None, pre_upload._check_cros_license('proj', 'sha1'))
+
   def testIgnoreExcludedPaths(self):
     """Ignores excluded paths for license checks."""
     self.file_mock.return_value = ['foo/OWNERS']