diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 4af38b5c57..b283f1f66e 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -381,6 +381,11 @@ lazy val protobufV3 = pekkoModule("protobuf-v3")
         // https://github.com/sbt/sbt-assembly/issues/400
         .inLibrary(Dependencies.Compile.Provided.protobufRuntime)
         .inProject),
+    assembly / assemblyMergeStrategy := {
+      case "META-INF/LICENSE" | "META-INF/NOTICE" => sbtassembly.MergeStrategy.concat
+      case "META-INF/COPYING.protobuf"            => sbtassembly.MergeStrategy.first
+      case path                                   => (assembly / assemblyMergeStrategy).value(path)
+    },
     assembly / assemblyOption := (assembly / assemblyOption).value.withIncludeScala(false).withIncludeBin(true),
     autoScalaLibrary := false, // do not include scala dependency in pom
     exportJars := true, // in dependent projects, use assembled and shaded jar
diff --git a/project/AddMetaInfLicenseFiles.scala b/project/AddMetaInfLicenseFiles.scala
index 77458d9afd..287f457f6e 100644
--- a/project/AddMetaInfLicenseFiles.scala
+++ b/project/AddMetaInfLicenseFiles.scala
@@ -25,11 +25,40 @@ import org.mdedetrich.apache.sonatype.ApacheSonatypePlugin.autoImport._
  */
 object AddMetaInfLicenseFiles extends AutoPlugin {
 
+  object autoImport {
+    lazy val checkPackageBinMetaInfLegalFiles =
+      taskKey[Unit]("Checks that packaged jars contain META-INF/LICENSE and META-INF/NOTICE files.")
+  }
+
+  import autoImport._
+
   private lazy val baseDir = LocalRootProject / baseDirectory
 
+  private val requiredPackageBinEntries = Seq("META-INF/LICENSE", "META-INF/NOTICE")
+
   override lazy val projectSettings = Seq(
     apacheSonatypeLicenseFile := baseDir.value / "legal" / "StandardLicense.txt",
-    apacheSonatypeNoticeFile := baseDir.value / "legal" / "PekkoNotice.txt")
+    apacheSonatypeNoticeFile := baseDir.value / "legal" / "PekkoNotice.txt",
+    Compile / checkPackageBinMetaInfLegalFiles := Def.taskDyn {
+      if ((publish / skip).value) {
+        Def.task {
+          streams.value.log.debug("Skipping META-INF legal files check for non-published project.")
+        }
+      } else {
+        Def.task {
+          val packageBinJar = (Compile / packageBin).value
+          val publishedJar = (Compile / packageBin / packagedArtifact).value._2
+          val missingEntries = Seq(packageBinJar, publishedJar).distinct.flatMap { jar =>
+            missingPackageBinEntries(jar).map(entry => s"${jar.getAbsolutePath}: $entry")
+          }
+
+          if (missingEntries.nonEmpty) {
+            throw new MessageOnlyException(
+              "Packaged jars are missing required META-INF legal files:\n" + missingEntries.mkString("\n"))
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }.value)
 
   /**
    * Settings specific for Pekko actor subproject which requires a different license file.
@@ -80,4 +109,10 @@ object AddMetaInfLicenseFiles extends AutoPlugin {
   override lazy val trigger = allRequirements
 
   override lazy val requires = ApacheSonatypePlugin
+
+  private def missingPackageBinEntries(jar: File): Seq[String] = {
+    val zip = new java.util.zip.ZipFile(jar)
+    try requiredPackageBinEntries.filter(entry => zip.getEntry(entry) == null)
+    finally zip.close()
+  }
 }
diff --git a/project/ValidatePullRequest.scala b/project/ValidatePullRequest.scala
index 246e98b6f3..2f13a5029c 100644
--- a/project/ValidatePullRequest.scala
+++ b/project/ValidatePullRequest.scala
@@ -124,3 +124,12 @@ object UnidocWithPrValidation extends AutoPlugin {
   override lazy val trigger = noTrigger
   override lazy val projectSettings = Seq(additionalTasks += Compile / unidoc)
 }
+
+object MetaInfLicenseFilesWithPrValidation extends AutoPlugin {
+  import AddMetaInfLicenseFiles.autoImport._
+  import PekkoValidatePullRequest._
+
+  override lazy val trigger = allRequirements
+  override lazy val requires = PekkoValidatePullRequest && AddMetaInfLicenseFiles
+  override lazy val projectSettings = Seq(additionalTasks += Compile / checkPackageBinMetaInfLegalFiles)
+}