diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 4ecb66c..e44dc0c 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -759,7 +759,7 @@
 
 	return 0 if (!(-e "$root/scripts/get_maintainer.pl"));
 
-	my $status = `perl $root/scripts/get_maintainer.pl --status --nom --nol --nogit --nogit-fallback $filename 2>&1`;
+	my $status = `perl $root/scripts/get_maintainer.pl --status --nom --nol --nogit --nogit-fallback -f $filename 2>&1`;
 
 	return $status =~ /obsolete/i;
 }