diff --git a/maven-artifact/pom.xml b/maven-artifact/pom.xml
index 038addda70..c52fd2b47b 100644
--- a/maven-artifact/pom.xml
+++ b/maven-artifact/pom.xml
@@ -31,10 +31,6 @@ under the License.
   <name>Maven Artifact</name>
 
   <dependencies>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
-      <artifactId>plexus-utils</artifactId>
-    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
       <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
diff --git a/maven-artifact/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifact.java b/maven-artifact/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifact.java
index dbf93e9fc7..379c601174 100644
--- a/maven-artifact/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifact.java
+++ b/maven-artifact/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifact.java
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.ArtifactVersion;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.DefaultArtifactVersion;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.OverConstrainedVersionException;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.VersionRange;
-import org.codehaus.plexus.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * @author Jason van Zyl
@@ -172,7 +171,7 @@ public class DefaultArtifact implements Artifact {
     }
 
     public boolean hasClassifier() {
-        return StringUtils.isNotEmpty(classifier);
+        return classifier != null && !classifier.isEmpty();
     }
 
     public String getScope() {