diff --git a/netlib/http/http1/read.py b/netlib/http/http1/read.py
index 0f6de26ca..6e3a1b93a 100644
--- a/netlib/http/http1/read.py
+++ b/netlib/http/http1/read.py
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ def _read_headers(rfile):
             try:
                 name, value = line.split(b":", 1)
                 value = value.strip()
-                if not name or not value:
+                if not name:
                     raise ValueError()
                 ret.append([name, value])
             except ValueError: