That's not a corner case, it's a particular instance of a general Java misfeature. In Java, "==" is an abomination that you must never use and will give essentially random results; "equals" is what you use to compare things for equality, and this is consistent throughout your codebase. Is it annoying? Yes. But it's easy to remember because it applies everywhere; any case of "==" in a java source file sticks out like a sore thumb. (Also any use of an array, anywhere, for anything. Sometimes I think I should write "Java: the good parts").