--- old/src/java.xml/share/classes/com/sun/xml/internal/stream/writers/XMLStreamWriterImpl.java	2019-01-25 09:41:28.412994117 -0800
+++ new/src/java.xml/share/classes/com/sun/xml/internal/stream/writers/XMLStreamWriterImpl.java	2019-01-25 09:41:27.940949915 -0800
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2005, 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2005, 2019, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -1730,11 +1730,7 @@
     private boolean isDefaultNamespace(String uri) {
         String defaultNamespace = fInternalNamespaceContext.getURI(DEFAULT_PREFIX);
 
-        if (uri.equals(defaultNamespace)) {
-            return true;
-        }
-
-        return false;
+        return uri != null && uri.equals(defaultNamespace);
     }
 
     /**