diff --git a/swift/common/middleware/staticweb.py b/swift/common/middleware/staticweb.py
index 34b102ea53..d16b5ae3e7 100644
--- a/swift/common/middleware/staticweb.py
+++ b/swift/common/middleware/staticweb.py
@@ -117,10 +117,11 @@ Example usage of this middleware via ``swift``:
 
 
 import cgi
+import json
 import time
 
 from swift.common.utils import human_readable, split_path, config_true_value, \
-    json, quote, get_valid_utf8_str, register_swift_info
+    quote, register_swift_info
 from swift.common.wsgi import make_pre_authed_env, WSGIContext
 from swift.common.http import is_success, is_redirection, HTTP_NOT_FOUND
 from swift.common.swob import Response, HTTPMovedPermanently, HTTPNotFound
@@ -289,7 +290,7 @@ class _StaticWebContext(WSGIContext):
                     '   </tr>\n'
         for item in listing:
             if 'subdir' in item:
-                subdir = get_valid_utf8_str(item['subdir'])
+                subdir = item['subdir'].encode("utf-8")
                 if prefix:
                     subdir = subdir[len(prefix):]
                 body += '   <tr class="item subdir">\n' \
@@ -300,13 +301,14 @@ class _StaticWebContext(WSGIContext):
                         (quote(subdir), cgi.escape(subdir))
         for item in listing:
             if 'name' in item:
-                name = get_valid_utf8_str(item['name'])
+                name = item['name'].encode("utf-8")
                 if prefix:
                     name = name[len(prefix):]
-                content_type = get_valid_utf8_str(item['content_type'])
-                bytes = get_valid_utf8_str(human_readable(item['bytes']))
-                last_modified = (cgi.escape(item['last_modified']).
-                                 split('.')[0].replace('T', ' '))
+                content_type = item['content_type'].encode("utf-8")
+                bytes = human_readable(item['bytes'])
+                last_modified = (
+                    cgi.escape(item['last_modified'].encode("utf-8")).
+                    split('.')[0].replace('T', ' '))
                 body += '   <tr class="item %s">\n' \
                         '    <td class="colname"><a href="%s">%s</a></td>\n' \
                         '    <td class="colsize">%s</td>\n' \
@@ -315,7 +317,7 @@ class _StaticWebContext(WSGIContext):
                         (' '.join('type-' + cgi.escape(t.lower(), quote=True)
                                   for t in content_type.split('/')),
                          quote(name), cgi.escape(name),
-                         bytes, get_valid_utf8_str(last_modified))
+                         bytes, last_modified)
         body += '  </table>\n' \
                 ' </body>\n' \
                 '</html>\n'
diff --git a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_staticweb.py b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_staticweb.py
index a5c61b1c31..fe361fde7a 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_staticweb.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_staticweb.py
@@ -13,15 +13,9 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-try:
-    import simplejson as json
-except ImportError:
-    import json
-import json as stdlib_json
+import json
 import unittest
 
-import mock
-
 from swift.common.swob import Request, Response
 from swift.common.middleware import staticweb
 
@@ -699,24 +693,6 @@ class TestStaticWeb(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assert_('listing.css' not in resp.body)
         self.assert_('<style' in resp.body)
 
-    def test_container_unicode_stdlib_json(self):
-        with mock.patch('swift.common.middleware.staticweb.json',
-                        new=stdlib_json):
-            resp = Request.blank(
-                '/v1/a/c10/').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
-            self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 200)
-            self.assert_('Listing of /v1/a/c10/' in resp.body)
-            resp = Request.blank(
-                '/v1/a/c10/\xe2\x98\x83/').get_response(self.test_staticweb)
-            self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 200)
-            self.assert_('Listing of /v1/a/c10/\xe2\x98\x83/' in resp.body)
-            resp = Request.blank(
-                '/v1/a/c10/\xe2\x98\x83/\xe2\x98\x83/'
-            ).get_response(self.test_staticweb)
-            self.assertEquals(resp.status_int, 200)
-            self.assert_(
-                'Listing of /v1/a/c10/\xe2\x98\x83/\xe2\x98\x83/' in resp.body)
-
     def test_subrequest_once_if_possible(self):
         resp = Request.blank(
             '/v1/a/c4/one.txt').get_response(self.test_staticweb)