diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index c03e427..42567bc 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -323,7 +323,8 @@
 	(?:[a-z0-9]+_){1,2}(?:printk|emerg|alert|crit|err|warning|warn|notice|info|debug|dbg|vdbg|devel|cont|WARN)(?:_ratelimited|_once|)|
 	WARN(?:_RATELIMIT|_ONCE|)|
 	panic|
-	MODULE_[A-Z_]+
+	MODULE_[A-Z_]+|
+	seq_vprintf|seq_printf|seq_puts
 )};
 
 our $signature_tags = qr{(?xi:
@@ -3909,9 +3910,9 @@
 		}
 
 # check for seq_printf uses that could be seq_puts
-		if ($line =~ /\bseq_printf\s*\(/) {
+		if ($sline =~ /\bseq_printf\s*\(.*"\s*\)\s*;\s*$/) {
 			my $fmt = get_quoted_string($line, $rawline);
-			if ($fmt !~ /[^\\]\%/) {
+			if ($fmt ne "" && $fmt !~ /[^\\]\%/) {
 				if (WARN("PREFER_SEQ_PUTS",
 					 "Prefer seq_puts to seq_printf\n" . $herecurr) &&
 				    $fix) {