diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION b/release-notes/VERSION
index dd48c17da2..709200082e 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Version: 2.3.2 (xx-xxx-2014)
 #379: Fix a problem with (re)naming of Creator properties; needed to make
  Paranamer module work with NamingStrategy.
  (reported by Chris P, cpilsworth@github)
+#398: Should deserialize empty (not null) URI from empty String
+ (reported by pgieser@github)
 - Added `BeanSerializerBase._serializeObjectId()` needed by modules that
   override standard BeanSerializer; specifically, XML module.
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/std/FromStringDeserializer.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/std/FromStringDeserializer.java
index 223b242f3a..47f7de9262 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/std/FromStringDeserializer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/std/FromStringDeserializer.java
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ protected FromStringDeserializer(Class<?> vc) {
     /* Deserializer implementations
     /**********************************************************
      */
-    
+
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     @Override
     public final T deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt)
@@ -34,8 +34,7 @@ public final T deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt)
         String text = jp.getValueAsString();
         if (text != null) { // has String representation
             if (text.length() == 0 || (text = text.trim()).length() == 0) {
-                // 15-Oct-2010, tatu: Empty String usually means null, so
-                return null;
+                return _deserializeFromEmptyString();
             }
             try {
                 T result = _deserialize(text, ctxt);
@@ -72,4 +71,5 @@ protected T _deserializeEmbedded(Object ob, DeserializationContext ctxt)
                 +ob.getClass().getName()+" into "+_valueClass.getName());
     }
 
+    protected T _deserializeFromEmptyString() { return null; }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/std/JdkDeserializers.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/std/JdkDeserializers.java
index 98af730c9a..de533bc360 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/std/JdkDeserializers.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/std/JdkDeserializers.java
@@ -135,6 +135,12 @@ protected URI _deserialize(String value, DeserializationContext ctxt)
         {
             return URI.create(value);
         }
+
+        @Override
+        protected URI _deserializeFromEmptyString() {
+            // [#398] Need to produce non-null URI from empty String
+            return URI.create("");
+        }
     }
     
     public static class CurrencyDeserializer
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/TestSimpleTypes.java b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/TestSimpleTypes.java
index 3440f79a5f..de80510fc5 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/TestSimpleTypes.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/TestSimpleTypes.java
@@ -443,6 +443,11 @@ public void testURI() throws Exception
     {
         URI value = new URI("http://foo.com");
         assertEquals(value, MAPPER.readValue("\""+value.toString()+"\"", URI.class));
+
+        // [#398]
+        value = MAPPER.readValue(quote(""), URI.class);
+        assertNotNull(value);
+        assertEquals(URI.create(""), value);
     }
 
     /*