The other issue is that ELPA checks the copyright string and wants to
  see that all packages in GNU ELPA have their copyright assigned to the
  FSF.

  If you can fix these two things, then everything should go through.
  You can then decide to filter out files out of the final tarball by
  adding an .elpaignore file that lists what files to exclude.

> Thanks and regards
>
> Uwe Brauer