diff --git a/sys/conf/newvers.sh b/sys/conf/newvers.sh
index eb31300cac0a..9b3b84b06186 100644
--- a/sys/conf/newvers.sh
+++ b/sys/conf/newvers.sh
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ else
 fi
 
 b=share/examples/etc/bsd-style-copyright
-year=$(sed -Ee '/^Copyright .* The FreeBSD Project/!d;s/^.*1992-([0-9]*) .*$/\1/g' ../../COPYRIGHT)
+year=$(sed -Ee '/^Copyright .* The FreeBSD Project/!d;s/^.*1992-([0-9]*) .*$/\1/g' ${SYSDIR}/../COPYRIGHT)
 # look for copyright template
 for bsd_copyright in ../$b ../../$b ../../../$b /usr/src/$b /usr/$b
 do