diff --git a/dev-support/test-patch.sh b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
index 788178b576..a3ce5677c7 100755
--- a/dev-support/test-patch.sh
+++ b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
@@ -1495,7 +1495,7 @@ function check_author
     return 0
   fi
 
-  authorTags=$("${GREP}" -c -i '@author' "${PATCH_DIR}/patch")
+  authorTags=$("${GREP}" -c -i '^[^-].*@author' "${PATCH_DIR}/patch")
   echo "There appear to be ${authorTags} @author tags in the patch."
   if [[ ${authorTags} != 0 ]] ; then
     add_jira_table -1 @author \
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index e850a55400..929ada1271 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -653,6 +653,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-9729. The example code of org.apache.hadoop.util.Tool is incorrect
     (hellojinjie via jlowe)
 
+    HADOOP-11928. Test-patch check for @author tags incorrectly flags
+    removal of @author tags (Kengo Seki via aw)
+
 Release 2.7.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES