diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.bo_merge.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.bo_merge.inc.php
index 5318cc114d..306ed55ae5 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.bo_merge.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.bo_merge.inc.php
@@ -1436,7 +1436,13 @@ abstract class bo_merge
 	{
 		if (array_key_exists('$$'.$param[4].'$$',$this->replacements)) $param[4] = $this->replacements['$$'.$param[4].'$$'];
 		if (array_key_exists('$$'.$param[3].'$$',$this->replacements)) $param[3] = $this->replacements['$$'.$param[3].'$$'];
-		$replace = preg_match('/'.preg_quote($param[2], '/').'/',$this->replacements['$$'.$param[1].'$$']) ? $param[3] : $param[4];
+		
+		$pattern = '/'.preg_quote($param[2], '/').'/';
+		if (strpos($param[0],'$$IF') === 0 && (trim($param[2]) == "EMPTY" || $param[2] === ''))
+		{
+			$pattern = '/^$/';
+		}
+		$replace = preg_match($pattern,$this->replacements['$$'.$param[1].'$$']) ? $param[3] : $param[4];
 		switch($this->mimetype)
 		{
 			case 'application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text':		// open office