diff --git a/Lib/unittest.py b/Lib/unittest.py
index e85dcd1c73f2..d31e251d4b08 100644
--- a/Lib/unittest.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest.py
@@ -285,10 +285,10 @@ def failUnlessRaises(self, excClass, callableObj, *args, **kwargs):
             raise self.failureException, excName
 
     def failUnlessEqual(self, first, second, msg=None):
-        """Fail if the two objects are unequal as determined by the '!='
+        """Fail if the two objects are unequal as determined by the '=='
            operator.
         """
-        if first != second:
+        if not first == second:
             raise self.failureException, \
                   (msg or '%s != %s' % (`first`, `second`))
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 2e6c5367cdaf..a58f3633114a 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -73,6 +73,10 @@ Extension modules
 Library
 -------
 
+- unittest.failUnlessEqual and its equivalent unittest.assertEqual now
+  return 'not a == b' rather than 'a != b'.  This gives the desired
+  result for classes that define __eq__ without defining __ne__.
+
 - sgmllib now supports SGML marked sections, in particular the 
   MS Office extensions.