diff --git a/headers/private/interface/utf8_functions.h b/headers/private/interface/utf8_functions.h
index accb2ae238..fdb4985ba0 100644
--- a/headers/private/interface/utf8_functions.h
+++ b/headers/private/interface/utf8_functions.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2004-2006, Haiku, Inc.
+ * Copyright 2004-2008, Haiku, Inc.
  * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
  */
 #ifndef _UTF8_FUNCTIONS_H
@@ -64,48 +64,22 @@ UTF8PreviousCharLen(const char *text, const char *limit)
 static inline uint32
 UTF8CountBytes(const char *bytes, int32 numChars)
 {
-	if (!bytes)
+	if (bytes == NULL)
 		return 0;
 
 	if (numChars < 0)
 		numChars = INT_MAX;
 
 	const char *base = bytes;
-	while (*bytes && numChars-- > 0) {
-		if (bytes[0] & 0x80) {
-			if (bytes[0] & 0x40) {
-				if (bytes[0] & 0x20) {
-					if (bytes[0] & 0x10) {
-						if (bytes[1] == 0 || bytes[2] == 0 || bytes[3] == 0)
-							return (bytes - base);
-
-						bytes += 4;
-						continue;
-					}
-
-					if (bytes[1] == 0 || bytes[2] == 0)
-						return (bytes - base);
-
-					bytes += 3;
-					continue;
-				}
-
-				if (bytes[1] == 0)
-					return (bytes - base);
-
-				bytes += 2;
-				continue;
-			}
-
-			/* Not a startbyte - skip */
-			bytes += 1;
-			continue;
+	while (bytes[0] != '\0') {
+		if ((bytes[0] & 0xc0) != 0x80) {
+			if (--numChars <= 0)
+				break;
 		}
-
-		bytes += 1;
+		bytes++;
 	}
 
-	return (bytes - base);
+	return bytes - base;
 }