diff --git a/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/RemoteWebDriver.java b/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/RemoteWebDriver.java
index eac2af23c89d1..f2fb19b9c6a31 100644
--- a/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/RemoteWebDriver.java
+++ b/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/RemoteWebDriver.java
@@ -725,7 +725,7 @@ private void checkChromeW3CFalse(Capabilities capabilities) {
       boolean w3c = true;
       if ((capability instanceof Map)) {
         Object rawW3C = ((Map<?, ?>) capability).get("w3c");
-        w3c = Boolean.parseBoolean(String.valueOf(rawW3C));
+        w3c = rawW3C == null || Boolean.parseBoolean(String.valueOf(rawW3C));
       }
       if (!w3c) {
         logger.log(