diff --git a/plugins/reporters/cyclonedx/src/main/kotlin/CycloneDxReporter.kt b/plugins/reporters/cyclonedx/src/main/kotlin/CycloneDxReporter.kt
index 0269e66dcfe03..2f8b01ec013f2 100644
--- a/plugins/reporters/cyclonedx/src/main/kotlin/CycloneDxReporter.kt
+++ b/plugins/reporters/cyclonedx/src/main/kotlin/CycloneDxReporter.kt
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ class CycloneDxReporter : Reporter {
 
             hashes = listOfNotNull(hash)
 
-            licenses = LicenseChoice().apply { licenses = licenseObjects }
+            if (licenseObjects.isNotEmpty()) licenses = LicenseChoice().apply { licenses = licenseObjects }
 
             // TODO: Find a way to associate copyrights to the license they belong to, see
             //       https://github.com/CycloneDX/cyclonedx-core-java/issues/58