diff --git a/templates/BUILD.bazel b/templates/BUILD.bazel
index 6f820ab37495..57277425d1fc 100644
--- a/templates/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/templates/BUILD.bazel
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ genrule(
         [
             "default-gitattributes",
             "default-gitignore",
-            "default-dlint-yaml",
+            "default-dlint.yaml",
             "skeleton/**",
             "empty-skeleton/**",
             "create-daml-app/**",
@@ -68,10 +68,13 @@ genrule(
         for d in skeleton empty-skeleton create-daml-app quickstart-scala quickstart-java; do
             mkdir -p $$OUT/$$d
             cp -rL $$SRC/$$d/* $$OUT/$$d/
-            # use default .gitignore and .dlint.yaml if they don't exist in the template
-            cp -n $$SRC/default-gitattributes $$OUT/$$d/.gitattributes
-            cp -n $$SRC/default-gitignore $$OUT/$$d/.gitignore
-            cp -n $$SRC/default-dlint-yaml $$OUT/$$d/.dlint.yaml
+            for f in gitattributes gitignore dlint.yaml; do
+                if [ -f "$$SRC/$$d/.$$f" ]; then
+                    cp "$$SRC/$$d/.$$f" "$$OUT/$$d/.$$f"
+                else
+                    cp "$$SRC/default-$$f" "$$OUT/$$d/.$$f"
+                fi
+            done
             # We avoid introducing infix syntax in the GSG so we disable
             # the lint there.
             if [ "$$d" = "create-daml-app" ]; then
diff --git a/templates/NO_AUTO_COPYRIGHT b/templates/NO_AUTO_COPYRIGHT
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e69de29bb2d1
diff --git a/templates/default-dlint-yaml b/templates/default-dlint.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from templates/default-dlint-yaml
rename to templates/default-dlint.yaml