diff --git a/drivers/usb/core/message.c b/drivers/usb/core/message.c
index 7135e542679d73431d145cee917da3fc18a492f2..2f6009b0cffc54c01b94839be60f769ed54f6e52 100644
--- a/drivers/usb/core/message.c
+++ b/drivers/usb/core/message.c
@@ -631,8 +631,8 @@ int usb_get_descriptor(struct usb_device *dev, unsigned char type, unsigned char
  * Returns the number of bytes received on success, or else the status code
  * returned by the underlying usb_control_msg() call.
  */
-int usb_get_string(struct usb_device *dev, unsigned short langid,
-		unsigned char index, void *buf, int size)
+static int usb_get_string(struct usb_device *dev, unsigned short langid,
+			  unsigned char index, void *buf, int size)
 {
 	int i;
 	int result;
@@ -1488,7 +1488,6 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(usb_sg_wait);
 // synchronous control message convenience routines
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(usb_get_descriptor);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(usb_get_status);
-EXPORT_SYMBOL(usb_get_string);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(usb_string);
 
 // synchronous calls that also maintain usbcore state
diff --git a/include/linux/usb.h b/include/linux/usb.h
index 827cc6de5f5c5da2a5a94b982252530943cf0873..130d125fda12282509268be224ac76c73afd3d40 100644
--- a/include/linux/usb.h
+++ b/include/linux/usb.h
@@ -1018,8 +1018,6 @@ extern int usb_get_descriptor(struct usb_device *dev, unsigned char desctype,
 	unsigned char descindex, void *buf, int size);
 extern int usb_get_status(struct usb_device *dev,
 	int type, int target, void *data);
-extern int usb_get_string(struct usb_device *dev,
-	unsigned short langid, unsigned char index, void *buf, int size);
 extern int usb_string(struct usb_device *dev, int index,
 	char *buf, size_t size);