Now in sed-4.4 this issue was fixed by packager. Here is the patch.
$ diff -Nuar sed-4.2.2/debian/copyright sed-4.4/debian/copyright
--- sed-4.2.2/debian/copyright 2009-08-01 12:57:01.000000000 +0800
+++ sed-4.4/debian/copyright 2017-01-05 09:31:41.000000000 +0800
@@ -4,18 +4,18 @@
This package was assembled from sources obtained from: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/sed/
-It is currently maintained by Clint Adams <email address hidden>
+It is currently maintained by Clint Adams <email address hidden>
-Copyright: 2003 - Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright: 1989,90,91,92,93,94,95,98,99,2002,2003,2006,2008,2009,2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
GNU sed is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
-Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
+Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any later
version.
On Debian GNU/Linux systems you can find a copy of the GPL in
-/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL
+/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3
The sed info manual is released under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
-either version 1.1, or (at your option) any later version.
+either version 1.3, or (at your option) any later version.
Now in sed-4.4 this issue was fixed by packager. Here is the patch.
$ diff -Nuar sed-4.2. 2/debian/ copyright sed-4.4/ debian/ copyright 2/debian/ copyright 2009-08-01 12:57:01.000000000 +0800 debian/ copyright 2017-01-05 09:31:41.000000000 +0800 gnu.org/ gnu/sed/
--- sed-4.2.
+++ sed-4.4/
@@ -4,18 +4,18 @@
This package was assembled from sources obtained from:
ftp://ftp.
-It is currently maintained by Clint Adams <email address hidden>
+It is currently maintained by Clint Adams <email address hidden>
-Copyright: 2003 - Free Software Foundation, Inc. 91,92,93, 94,95,98, 99,2002, 2003,2006, 2008,2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright: 1989,90,
GNU sed is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
-Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
+Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any later
version.
On Debian GNU/Linux systems you can find a copy of the GPL in common- licenses/ GPL common- licenses/ GPL-3
-/usr/share/
+/usr/share/
The sed info manual is released under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
-either version 1.1, or (at your option) any later version.
+either version 1.3, or (at your option) any later version.