diff --git a/api/client.go b/api/client.go
index f1a3f64f2a..e96ac213b0 100644
--- a/api/client.go
+++ b/api/client.go
@@ -208,6 +208,15 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) CmdBuild(args ...string) error {
 	}
 	// Upload the build context
 	v := &url.Values{}
+
+	//Check if the given image name can be resolved
+	if *tag != "" {
+		repository, _ := utils.ParseRepositoryTag(*tag)
+		if _, _, err := registry.ResolveRepositoryName(repository); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
 	v.Set("t", *tag)
 
 	if *suppressOutput {
@@ -1003,6 +1012,12 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) CmdImport(args ...string) error {
 		repository, tag = utils.ParseRepositoryTag(cmd.Arg(1))
 	}
 	v := url.Values{}
+
+	//Check if the given image name can be resolved
+	if _, _, err := registry.ResolveRepositoryName(repository); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	v.Set("repo", repository)
 	v.Set("tag", tag)
 	v.Set("fromSrc", src)
@@ -1453,6 +1468,11 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) CmdCommit(args ...string) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	//Check if the given image name can be resolved
+	if _, _, err := registry.ResolveRepositoryName(repository); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	v := url.Values{}
 	v.Set("container", name)
 	v.Set("repo", repository)
@@ -1741,6 +1761,11 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) CmdTag(args ...string) error {
 	}
 
 	v := url.Values{}
+
+	//Check if the given image name can be resolved
+	if _, _, err := registry.ResolveRepositoryName(repository); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	v.Set("repo", repository)
 	v.Set("tag", tag)
 
diff --git a/registry/registry_test.go b/registry/registry_test.go
index ebfb99b4c3..c072da41c5 100644
--- a/registry/registry_test.go
+++ b/registry/registry_test.go
@@ -206,4 +206,8 @@ func TestValidRepositoryName(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Log("Repository name should be invalid")
 		t.Fail()
 	}
+	if err := validateRepositoryName("docker///docker"); err == nil {
+		t.Log("Repository name should be invalid")
+		t.Fail()
+	}
 }