diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/InitCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/InitCommand.php
index 8541d3c98..5109fff8c 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/InitCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/InitCommand.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class InitCommand extends Command
     public function parseAuthorString($author)
     {
         if (preg_match('/^(?P<name>[- \.,\w\'’]+) <(?P<email>.+?)>$/u', $author, $match)) {
-            if (!function_exists('filter_var') || version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.3.3', '<') || $match['email'] === filter_var($match['email'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
+            if ($this->isValidEmail($match['email'])) {
                 return array(
                     'name'  => trim($match['name']),
                     'email' => $match['email']
@@ -487,4 +487,11 @@ EOT
 
         file_put_contents($ignoreFile, $contents . $vendor. "\n");
     }
+
+    protected function isValidEmail($email)
+    {
+        if (!function_exists('filter_var')) return true; // Bypass if we can't validate it
+        if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.3.3', '<')) return true; // ?
+        return false !== filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Command/InitCommandTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Command/InitCommandTest.php
index fa42f0108..c4a6a134c 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Command/InitCommandTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Command/InitCommandTest.php
@@ -13,10 +13,17 @@ class InitCommandTest extends TestCase
         $command->parseAuthorString('John Smith <john@example.com>');
     }
 
-    function testParseInvalidAuthorString()
+    function testParseEmptyAuthorString()
     {
         $command = new InitCommand;
         $this->setExpectedException('InvalidArgumentException');
         $command->parseAuthorString('');
     }
+
+    function testParseAuthorStringWithInvalidEmail()
+    {
+        $command = new InitCommand;
+        $this->setExpectedException('InvalidArgumentException');
+        $command->parseAuthorString('John Smith <john>');
+    }
 }