diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 3190ad2..bc011e5 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ struct config_item config_tab[] = {
 	GLOB_ITEM_DBL("pi_proportional_scale", 0.0, 0.0, DBL_MAX),
 	GLOB_ITEM_INT("priority1", 128, 0, UINT8_MAX),
 	GLOB_ITEM_INT("priority2", 128, 0, UINT8_MAX),
+	GLOB_ITEM_STR("productDescription", ";;"),
 	PORT_ITEM_STR("ptp_dst_mac", "01:1B:19:00:00:00"),
 	PORT_ITEM_STR("p2p_dst_mac", "01:80:C2:00:00:0E"),
 	GLOB_ITEM_INT("sanity_freq_limit", 200000000, 0, INT_MAX),
@@ -458,13 +459,7 @@ static enum parser_result parse_global_setting(const char *option,
 	if (r != NOT_PARSED)
 		return r;
 
-	if (!strcmp(option, "productDescription")) {
-		if (count_char(value, ';') != 2)
-			return BAD_VALUE;
-		if (static_ptp_text_set(&cfg->dds.clock_desc.productDescription, value) != 0)
-			return BAD_VALUE;
-
-	} else if (!strcmp(option, "revisionData")) {
+	if (!strcmp(option, "revisionData")) {
 		if (count_char(value, ';') != 2)
 			return BAD_VALUE;
 		if (static_ptp_text_set(&cfg->dds.clock_desc.revisionData, value) != 0)
diff --git a/ptp4l.c b/ptp4l.c
index 7cfe570..2b96564 100644
--- a/ptp4l.c
+++ b/ptp4l.c
@@ -44,11 +44,6 @@ static struct config cfg_settings = {
 
 	.dds = {
 		.clock_desc = {
-			.productDescription = {
-				.max_symbols = 64,
-				.text = ";;",
-				.length = 2,
-			},
 			.revisionData = {
 				.max_symbols = 32,
 				.text = ";;",
@@ -94,11 +89,12 @@ static void usage(char *progname)
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
-	char *config = NULL, *req_phc = NULL, *progname;
+	char *config = NULL, *req_phc = NULL, *progname, *tmp;
 	int c;
 	struct interface *iface;
 	struct clock *clock;
 	struct config *cfg = &cfg_settings;
+	struct default_ds *dds = &cfg_settings.dds;
 	struct defaultDS *ds = &cfg_settings.dds.dds;
 	int phc_index = -1, print_level, required_modes = 0;
 
@@ -213,6 +209,15 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	ds->clockQuality.offsetScaledLogVariance =
 		config_get_int(cfg, NULL, "offsetScaledLogVariance");
 
+	dds->clock_desc.productDescription.max_symbols = 64;
+
+	tmp = config_get_string(cfg, NULL, "productDescription");
+	if (count_char(tmp, ';') != 2 ||
+	    static_ptp_text_set(&dds->clock_desc.productDescription, tmp)) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "invalid productDescription '%s'.\n", tmp);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
 	ds->domainNumber = config_get_int(cfg, NULL, "domainNumber");
 
 	if (config_get_int(cfg, NULL, "slaveOnly")) {