diff --git a/src/rules.c b/src/rules.c
index dc8e465..d568218 100644
--- a/src/rules.c
+++ b/src/rules.c
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@ void rule_apply(rule_t * r, notification * n)
                 n->allow_markup = r->allow_markup;
         if (r->plain_text != -1)
                 n->plain_text = r->plain_text;
-        if (r->new_icon)
-                n->icon = r->new_icon;
+        if (r->new_icon) {
+                if(n->icon)
+                        g_free(n->icon);
+                n->icon = g_strdup(r->new_icon);
+        }
         if (r->fg)
                 n->color_strings[ColFG] = r->fg;
         if (r->bg)