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 64a912a65e..59c1513118 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
@@ -273,8 +273,11 @@ public class DefaultArtifact
     public String toString()
     {
         StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
-        sb.append( getGroupId() );
-        sb.append( ":" );
+        if ( getGroupId() != null )
+        {
+            sb.append( getGroupId() );
+            sb.append( ":" );
+        }
         appendArtifactTypeClassifierString( sb );
         sb.append( ":" );
         if ( version != null || baseVersion != null )
@@ -285,8 +288,11 @@ public class DefaultArtifact
         {
             sb.append( versionRange.toString() );
         }
-        sb.append( ":" );
-        sb.append( scope );
+        if ( scope != null )
+        {
+            sb.append( ":" );
+            sb.append( scope );
+        }
         return sb.toString();
     }
 
diff --git a/maven-artifact/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifactTest.java b/maven-artifact/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifactTest.java
index 7328e7d9fc..5894d90edf 100644
--- a/maven-artifact/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifactTest.java
+++ b/maven-artifact/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifactTest.java
@@ -75,22 +75,19 @@ public class DefaultArtifactTest
     public void testToStringNullGroupId()
     {
         artifact.setGroupId( null );
-        assertEquals( null + ":" + artifactId + ":" + type + ":" + classifier + ":" + version + ":" + scope, artifact
-            .toString() );
+        assertEquals( artifactId + ":" + type + ":" + classifier + ":" + version + ":" + scope, artifact.toString() );
     }
 
     public void testToStringNullClassifier()
     {
         artifact = new DefaultArtifact( groupId, artifactId, versionRange, scope, type, null, artifactHandler );
-        assertEquals( groupId + ":" + artifactId + ":" + type + ":" + version + ":" + scope, artifact
-            .toString() );
+        assertEquals( groupId + ":" + artifactId + ":" + type + ":" + version + ":" + scope, artifact.toString() );
     }
 
     public void testToStringNullScope()
     {
         artifact.setScope( null );
-        assertEquals( groupId + ":" + artifactId + ":" + type + ":" + classifier + ":" + version + ":" + null, artifact
-            .toString() );
+        assertEquals( groupId + ":" + artifactId + ":" + type + ":" + classifier + ":" + version, artifact.toString() );
     }
 
 }