diff --git a/fs/nfs/nfs4xdr.c b/fs/nfs/nfs4xdr.c
index 8b3d96b4a0f0..740f3bc4a19d 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/nfs4xdr.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/nfs4xdr.c
@@ -5169,8 +5169,7 @@ static int decode_lock_denied(struct xdr_stream *xdr, struct file_lock *fl)
 	p = xdr_decode_hyper(p, &clientid); /* read 8 bytes */
 	namelen = be32_to_cpup(p); /* read 4 bytes */  /* have read all 32 bytes now */
 	p = xdr_inline_decode(xdr, namelen); /* variable size field */
-	if (likely(!p))
-		return -EIO;
+	/* We have an owner here, return DENIED */
 	return -NFS4ERR_DENIED;
 }