diff --git a/scripts/get_maintainer.pl b/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
index 5a36354a38cc..2075db0c08b8 100755
--- a/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
+++ b/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
@@ -957,8 +957,10 @@ sub get_maintainers {
 
     foreach my $file (@files) {
 	if ($email &&
-	    ($email_git || ($email_git_fallback &&
-			    !$exact_pattern_match_hash{$file}))) {
+	    ($email_git ||
+	     ($email_git_fallback &&
+	      $file !~ /MAINTAINERS$/ &&
+	      !$exact_pattern_match_hash{$file}))) {
 	    vcs_file_signoffs($file);
 	}
 	if ($email && $email_git_blame) {