Index: sources/org/apache/batik/dom/util/SAXDocumentFactory.java
===================================================================
--- sources/org/apache/batik/dom/util/SAXDocumentFactory.java	(revision 718213)
+++ sources/org/apache/batik/dom/util/SAXDocumentFactory.java	(working copy)
@@ -622,6 +622,11 @@
             ? ""
             : rawName.substring(0, idx);
         String nsURI = namespaces.get(nsp);
+        if (nsURI == null && uri != null) {
+            //Namespace URI was specified outside the context of the SAXDocumentFactory
+            namespaces.put(nsp, uri);
+            nsURI = uri;
+        }
         if (currentNode == null) {
             implementation = getDOMImplementation(version);
             document = implementation.createDocument(nsURI, rawName, doctype);