diff --git a/Documentation/kref.txt b/Documentation/kref.txt
index ddf85a5dde0c12a435b9cbcc30f44159de5acc0b..d26a27ca964d4906e2955778393f99fa25d52153 100644
--- a/Documentation/kref.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kref.txt
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ int my_data_handler(void)
 	task = kthread_run(more_data_handling, data, "more_data_handling");
 	if (task == ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM)) {
 		rv = -ENOMEM;
+	        kref_put(&data->refcount, data_release);
 		goto out;
 	}