Use Objects.equals().
diff --git a/commons-rdf-simple/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/rdf/simple/BlankNodeImpl.java b/commons-rdf-simple/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/rdf/simple/BlankNodeImpl.java
index f604f3e..f751f47 100644
--- a/commons-rdf-simple/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/rdf/simple/BlankNodeImpl.java
+++ b/commons-rdf-simple/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/rdf/simple/BlankNodeImpl.java
@@ -100,11 +100,7 @@
             return false;
         }
         final BlankNodeImpl other = (BlankNodeImpl) obj;
-        if (uniqueReference == null) {
-            if (other.uniqueReference != null) {
-                return false;
-            }
-        } else if (!uniqueReference.equals(other.uniqueReference)) {
+        if (!Objects.equals(uniqueReference, other.uniqueReference)) {
             return false;
         }
         return true;