diff --git a/libvo/font_load_ft.c b/libvo/font_load_ft.c
index ddaf598069..fe3845f7a9 100644
--- a/libvo/font_load_ft.c
+++ b/libvo/font_load_ft.c
@@ -1157,10 +1157,8 @@ void load_font_ft(int width, int height, font_desc_t** fontp, const char *font_n
 #ifdef CONFIG_FONTCONFIG
     if (font_fontconfig > 0)
     {
-	if (!font_name)
-	    font_name = strdup("sans-serif");
 	FcInit();
-	fc_pattern = FcNameParse(font_name);
+	fc_pattern = FcNameParse(font_name ? font_name : "sans-serif");
 	FcConfigSubstitute(0, fc_pattern, FcMatchPattern);
 	FcDefaultSubstitute(fc_pattern);
 	fc_pattern2 = fc_pattern;