diff --git a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/DefaultHttpHeaders.java b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/DefaultHttpHeaders.java
index 72cacfe32a..2cfaf9e082 100644
--- a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/DefaultHttpHeaders.java
+++ b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/DefaultHttpHeaders.java
@@ -50,30 +50,6 @@ public class DefaultHttpHeaders extends HttpHeaders {
         }
     }
 
-    private static boolean eq(String name1, String name2) {
-        int nameLen = name1.length();
-        if (nameLen != name2.length()) {
-            return false;
-        }
-
-        for (int i = nameLen - 1; i >= 0; i --) {
-            char c1 = name1.charAt(i);
-            char c2 = name2.charAt(i);
-            if (c1 != c2) {
-                if (c1 >= 'A' && c1 <= 'Z') {
-                    c1 += 32;
-                }
-                if (c2 >= 'A' && c2 <= 'Z') {
-                    c2 += 32;
-                }
-                if (c1 != c2) {
-                    return false;
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        return true;
-    }
-
     private static int index(int hash) {
         return hash % BUCKET_SIZE;
     }
@@ -157,7 +133,7 @@ public class DefaultHttpHeaders extends HttpHeaders {
         }
 
         for (;;) {
-            if (e.hash == h && eq(name, e.key)) {
+            if (e.hash == h && equalsIgnoreCase(name, e.key)) {
                 e.remove();
                 HeaderEntry next = e.next;
                 if (next != null) {
@@ -177,7 +153,7 @@ public class DefaultHttpHeaders extends HttpHeaders {
             if (next == null) {
                 break;
             }
-            if (next.hash == h && eq(name, next.key)) {
+            if (next.hash == h && equalsIgnoreCase(name, next.key)) {
                 e.next = next.next;
                 next.remove();
             } else {
@@ -249,7 +225,7 @@ public class DefaultHttpHeaders extends HttpHeaders {
         String value = null;
         // loop until the first header was found
         while (e != null) {
-            if (e.hash == h && eq(name, e.key)) {
+            if (e.hash == h && equalsIgnoreCase(name, e.key)) {
                 value = e.value;
             }
 
@@ -270,7 +246,7 @@ public class DefaultHttpHeaders extends HttpHeaders {
         int i = index(h);
         HeaderEntry e = entries[i];
         while (e != null) {
-            if (e.hash == h && eq(name, e.key)) {
+            if (e.hash == h && equalsIgnoreCase(name, e.key)) {
                 values.addFirst(e.value);
             }
             e = e.next;
@@ -316,7 +292,7 @@ public class DefaultHttpHeaders extends HttpHeaders {
         int i = index(h);
         HeaderEntry e = entries[i];
         while (e != null) {
-            if (e.hash == h && eq(name, e.key)) {
+            if (e.hash == h && equalsIgnoreCase(name, e.key)) {
                 if (ignoreCaseValue) {
                     if (e.value.equalsIgnoreCase(value)) {
                         return true;
diff --git a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpHeaders.java b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpHeaders.java
index 506a870061..9001a4223b 100644
--- a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpHeaders.java
+++ b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpHeaders.java
@@ -546,14 +546,14 @@ public abstract class HttpHeaders implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String, String>>
      */
     public static boolean isKeepAlive(HttpMessage message) {
         String connection = message.headers().get(Names.CONNECTION);
-        if (Values.CLOSE.equalsIgnoreCase(connection)) {
+        if (connection != null && equalsIgnoreCase(Values.CLOSE, connection)) {
             return false;
         }
 
         if (message.getProtocolVersion().isKeepAliveDefault()) {
-            return !Values.CLOSE.equalsIgnoreCase(connection);
+            return !equalsIgnoreCase(Values.CLOSE, connection);
         } else {
-            return Values.KEEP_ALIVE.equalsIgnoreCase(connection);
+            return equalsIgnoreCase(Values.KEEP_ALIVE, connection);
         }
     }
 
@@ -973,7 +973,7 @@ public abstract class HttpHeaders implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String, String>>
         if (value == null) {
             return false;
         }
-        if (Values.CONTINUE.equalsIgnoreCase(value)) {
+        if (equalsIgnoreCase(Values.CONTINUE, value)) {
             return true;
         }
 
@@ -1132,7 +1132,7 @@ public abstract class HttpHeaders implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String, String>>
         Iterator<String> valuesIt = values.iterator();
         while (valuesIt.hasNext()) {
             String value = valuesIt.next();
-            if (value.equalsIgnoreCase(Values.CHUNKED)) {
+            if (equalsIgnoreCase(value, Values.CHUNKED)) {
                 valuesIt.remove();
             }
         }
@@ -1152,6 +1152,37 @@ public abstract class HttpHeaders implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String, String>>
         return m.headers().contains(Names.CONTENT_LENGTH);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns {@code true} if both {@link CharSequence}'s are equals when ignore the case.
+     * This only supports US_ASCII.
+     */
+    public static boolean equalsIgnoreCase(CharSequence name1, CharSequence name2) {
+        if (name1 == name2) {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        int nameLen = name1.length();
+        if (nameLen != name2.length()) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        for (int i = nameLen - 1; i >= 0; i --) {
+            char c1 = name1.charAt(i);
+            char c2 = name2.charAt(i);
+            if (c1 != c2) {
+                if (c1 >= 'A' && c1 <= 'Z') {
+                    c1 += 32;
+                }
+                if (c2 >= 'A' && c2 <= 'Z') {
+                    c2 += 32;
+                }
+                if (c1 != c2) {
+                    return false;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
     protected HttpHeaders() { }
 
     /**
@@ -1332,7 +1363,7 @@ public abstract class HttpHeaders implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String, String>>
 
         for (String v: values) {
             if (ignoreCaseValue) {
-                if (v.equalsIgnoreCase(value)) {
+                if (equalsIgnoreCase(v, value)) {
                     return true;
                 }
             } else {
diff --git a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java
index ccf398d9ca..8e971111e2 100644
--- a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java
+++ b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java
@@ -649,9 +649,9 @@ public abstract class HttpObjectDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<HttpObjectDecod
                 } else {
                     String[] header = splitHeader(line);
                     String name = header[0];
-                    if (!name.equalsIgnoreCase(HttpHeaders.Names.CONTENT_LENGTH) &&
-                        !name.equalsIgnoreCase(HttpHeaders.Names.TRANSFER_ENCODING) &&
-                        !name.equalsIgnoreCase(HttpHeaders.Names.TRAILER)) {
+                    if (!HttpHeaders.equalsIgnoreCase(name, HttpHeaders.Names.CONTENT_LENGTH) &&
+                        !HttpHeaders.equalsIgnoreCase(name, HttpHeaders.Names.TRANSFER_ENCODING) &&
+                        !HttpHeaders.equalsIgnoreCase(name, HttpHeaders.Names.TRAILER)) {
                         trailer.trailingHeaders().add(name, header[1]);
                     }
                     lastHeader = name;