diff --git a/src/asciidoc/web-mvc.adoc b/src/asciidoc/web-mvc.adoc
index 95e471bc73..7ac6035da6 100644
--- a/src/asciidoc/web-mvc.adoc
+++ b/src/asciidoc/web-mvc.adoc
@@ -2039,7 +2039,7 @@ The following example demonstrates the use of `@InitBinder` to configure a
 	public class MyFormController {
 
 		**@InitBinder**
-		public void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
+		protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
 			SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
 			dateFormat.setLenient(false);
 			binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, new CustomDateEditor(dateFormat, false));
@@ -2062,7 +2062,7 @@ controller-specific tweaking of the binding rules.
 	public class MyFormController {
 
 		**@InitBinder**
-		public void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
+		protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
 			binder.addCustomFormatter(new DateFormatter("yyyy-MM-dd"));
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/asciidoc/web-portlet.adoc b/src/asciidoc/web-portlet.adoc
index 91d7560857..9f0e95c9ad 100644
--- a/src/asciidoc/web-portlet.adoc
+++ b/src/asciidoc/web-portlet.adoc
@@ -1462,8 +1462,8 @@ The following example demonstrates the use of `@InitBinder` for configuring a
 	public class MyFormController {
 
 		@InitBinder
-		public void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
-		SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
+		protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
+		    SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
 			dateFormat.setLenient(false);
 			binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, new CustomDateEditor(dateFormat, false));
 		}