diff --git a/src/common/string.cpp b/src/common/string.cpp
index 96c9c526f4..54a7281a58 100644
--- a/src/common/string.cpp
+++ b/src/common/string.cpp
@@ -2012,11 +2012,6 @@ static int DoStringPrintfV(wxString& str,
         if ( !buf )
         {
             // out of memory
-
-            // in UTF-8 build, leaving uninitialized junk in the buffer
-            // could result in invalid non-empty UTF-8 string, so just
-            // reset the string to empty on failure:
-            buf[0] = '\0';
             return -1;
         }