diff --git a/Documentation/thinkpad-acpi.txt b/Documentation/thinkpad-acpi.txt
index f877c13c5ef812ed99df1673450cf1fae029662f..bb1c7a60b9bb284d86e72687658c26bf9c027c25 100644
--- a/Documentation/thinkpad-acpi.txt
+++ b/Documentation/thinkpad-acpi.txt
@@ -942,11 +942,15 @@ and CMOS.  The driver tries to autodetect which interface to use.
 
 When display backlight brightness controls are available through the
 standard ACPI interface, it is best to use it instead of this direct
-ThinkPad-specific interface.
+ThinkPad-specific interface.  The driver will disable its native
+backlight brightness control interface if it detects that the standard
+ACPI interface is available in the ThinkPad.
 
 The brightness_enable module parameter can be used to control whether
 the LCD brightness control feature will be enabled when available.
-brightness_enable=0 forces it to be disabled.
+brightness_enable=0 forces it to be disabled.  brightness_enable=1
+forces it to be enabled when available, even if the standard ACPI
+interface is also available.
 
 Procfs notes:
 
diff --git a/drivers/misc/thinkpad_acpi.c b/drivers/misc/thinkpad_acpi.c
index 56a21e6b80a96ae8bc4a5064912c3157d0acd789..109bd2750439eef6f4efe8ea89fb4da7e1ef03ed 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/thinkpad_acpi.c
+++ b/drivers/misc/thinkpad_acpi.c
@@ -3174,6 +3174,39 @@ static int __init brightness_check_levels(void)
 	return (ACPI_SUCCESS(status) && found_node != NULL);
 }
 
+static acpi_status __init brightness_find_bcl(acpi_handle handle, u32 lvl,
+					void *context, void **rv)
+{
+	char name[ACPI_PATH_SEGMENT_LENGTH];
+	struct acpi_buffer buffer = { sizeof(name), &name };
+
+	if (ACPI_SUCCESS(acpi_get_name(handle, ACPI_SINGLE_NAME, &buffer)) &&
+	    !strncmp("_BCL", name, sizeof(name) - 1)) {
+		*rv = handle;
+		return AE_CTRL_TERMINATE;
+	} else {
+		return AE_OK;
+	}
+}
+
+static int __init brightness_check_std_acpi_support(void)
+{
+	int status;
+	void *found_node = NULL;
+
+	if (!vid_handle) {
+		IBM_ACPIHANDLE_INIT(vid);
+	}
+	if (!vid_handle)
+		return 0;
+
+	/* Search for a _BCL method, but don't execute it */
+	status = acpi_walk_namespace(ACPI_TYPE_METHOD, vid_handle, 3,
+	                             brightness_find_bcl, NULL, &found_node);
+
+	return (ACPI_SUCCESS(status) && found_node != NULL);
+}
+
 static int __init brightness_init(struct ibm_init_struct *iibm)
 {
 	int b;
@@ -3186,6 +3219,12 @@ static int __init brightness_init(struct ibm_init_struct *iibm)
 		dbg_printk(TPACPI_DBG_INIT,
 		           "brightness support disabled by module parameter\n");
 		return 1;
+	} else if (brightness_enable > 1) {
+		if (brightness_check_std_acpi_support()) {
+			printk(IBM_NOTICE
+			       "standard ACPI backlight interface available, not loading native one...\n");
+			return 1;
+		}
 	}
 
 	if (!brightness_mode) {