diff --git a/src/ol/format/wmsgetfeatureinfoformat.js b/src/ol/format/wmsgetfeatureinfoformat.js
index 0157b197fe..7805035bdf 100644
--- a/src/ol/format/wmsgetfeatureinfoformat.js
+++ b/src/ol/format/wmsgetfeatureinfoformat.js
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ ol.format.WMSGetFeatureInfo.layerIdentifier_ = '_layer';
  */
 ol.format.WMSGetFeatureInfo.prototype.readFeatures_ = function(node, objectStack) {
 
-  node.namespaceURI = this.featureNS_;
+  node.setAttribute('namespaceURI', this.featureNS_);
   goog.asserts.assert(node.nodeType == goog.dom.NodeType.ELEMENT,
       'node.nodeType should be ELEMENT');
   var localName = ol.xml.getLocalName(node);
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ ol.format.WMSGetFeatureInfo.prototype.readFeatures_ = function(node, objectStack
           this.gmlFormat_.readFeatureElement, this.gmlFormat_);
       var parsersNS = ol.xml.makeStructureNS(
           [context['featureNS'], null], parsers);
-      layer.namespaceURI = this.featureNS_;
+      layer.setAttribute('namespaceURI', this.featureNS_);
       var layerFeatures = ol.xml.pushParseAndPop(
           [], parsersNS, layer, objectStack, this.gmlFormat_);
       if (layerFeatures) {