diff --git a/android/module.go b/android/module.go
index 1409d44b1..bf74cad07 100644
--- a/android/module.go
+++ b/android/module.go
@@ -2374,6 +2374,16 @@ func (b *baseModuleContext) FinalModule() Module {
 	return b.bp.FinalModule().(Module)
 }
 
+// IsMetaDependencyTag returns true for cross-cutting metadata dependencies.
+func IsMetaDependencyTag(tag blueprint.DependencyTag) bool {
+	if tag == licenseKindTag {
+		return true
+	} else if tag == licensesTag {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // A regexp for removing boilerplate from BaseDependencyTag from the string representation of
 // a dependency tag.
 var tagCleaner = regexp.MustCompile(`\QBaseDependencyTag:{}\E(, )?`)
diff --git a/java/boot_image.go b/java/boot_image.go
index 0a525b752..8a1e3c957 100644
--- a/java/boot_image.go
+++ b/java/boot_image.go
@@ -90,6 +90,10 @@ func (b *BootImageModule) DepIsInSameApex(ctx android.BaseModuleContext, dep and
 		// The dex2oat tool is only needed for building and is not required in the apex.
 		return false
 	}
+	if android.IsMetaDependencyTag(tag) {
+		// Cross-cutting metadata dependencies are metadata.
+		return false
+	}
 	panic(fmt.Errorf("boot_image module %q should not have a dependency on %q via tag %s", b, dep, android.PrettyPrintTag(tag)))
 }