diff --git a/src/db/db/dbNetlistProperty.h b/src/db/db/dbNetlistProperty.h
index b5d4aeb2b..be8d92ca1 100644
--- a/src/db/db/dbNetlistProperty.h
+++ b/src/db/db/dbNetlistProperty.h
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ namespace tl
   class Extractor;
 
   //  specialization of tl::VariantUserClass for the purpose of NetlistProperty representation
-  template <> class DB_PUBLIC tl::VariantUserClass<db::NetlistProperty>
+  template <> class DB_PUBLIC VariantUserClass<db::NetlistProperty>
     : public tl::VariantUserClassBase
   {
   public: