What is a 'licensed copy'? Since the Organization for Standardization doesn't 'license' documents like ISO 9001, what was the auditor (or you) requiring??
If you are talking about having an original copy (hence the comments about 'the law', I guess) then, sure someone has to have the document. I would find it difficult to justify trying to design and implement a quality system without the ruling specification - be it ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949 or something similar (sorry Randy, I think you're off base here, matey

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Indeed, a friend of mine (who's a registrar auditor) visited a company for a surveillance audit and found the MR hadn't ever seen ISO 9001:mg: Needless to say, basic practices weren't in place (but they were registered - don't ask who the registrar was!)
Andy