diff --git a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/tags/MessageTag.java b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/tags/MessageTag.java
index d9448fd394..3c123d716e 100644
--- a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/tags/MessageTag.java
+++ b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/tags/MessageTag.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ import org.springframework.web.util.TagUtils;
  * message. Thus, this tag can also be used for HTML escaping of any texts.
  *
  * <p>Message arguments can be specified via the {@link #setArguments(Object) arguments}
- * attribute or by using nested {@code &lt;spring:argument&gt;} tags.
+ * attribute or by using nested {@code <spring:argument>} tags.
  *
  * @author Rod Johnson
  * @author Juergen Hoeller
diff --git a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/tags/ThemeTag.java b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/tags/ThemeTag.java
index f7fc101e38..3ef0bb84f2 100644
--- a/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/tags/ThemeTag.java
+++ b/spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/tags/ThemeTag.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import org.springframework.context.NoSuchMessageException;
  * as default message.
  *
  * <p>Message arguments can be specified via the {@link #setArguments(Object) arguments}
- * attribute or by using nested {@code &lt;spring:argument&gt;} tags.
+ * attribute or by using nested {@code <spring:argument>} tags.
  *
  * @author Jean-Pierre Pawlak
  * @author Juergen Hoeller