diff --git a/drivers/staging/unisys/uislib/uisthread.c b/drivers/staging/unisys/uislib/uisthread.c
index ecf4bfcb34a610478072d42972f594059fdf1ca0..782b06aad56d95e8e35ffa6daa174c0ca051cd86 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/unisys/uislib/uisthread.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/unisys/uislib/uisthread.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ uisthread_start(struct uisthread_info *thrinfo,
 	/* used to stop the thread */
 	init_completion(&thrinfo->has_stopped);
 	thrinfo->task = kthread_create(threadfn, thrcontext, name, NULL);
-	if (thrinfo->task == NULL) {
+	if (IS_ERR(thrinfo->task)) {
 		thrinfo->id = 0;
 		return 0;	/* failure */
 	}