diff --git a/remote-curl.c b/remote-curl.c
index dd63bc27ab..515ac9b411 100644
--- a/remote-curl.c
+++ b/remote-curl.c
@@ -760,7 +760,7 @@ static int fetch_git(struct discovery *heads,
 
 	for (i = 0; i < nr_heads; i++) {
 		struct ref *ref = to_fetch[i];
-		if (!ref->name || !*ref->name)
+		if (!*ref->name)
 			die("cannot fetch by sha1 over smart http");
 		packet_buf_write(&preamble, "%s %s\n",
 				 sha1_to_hex(ref->old_sha1), ref->name);