diff --git a/geomagio/processing/copy_instrument.py b/geomagio/processing/copy_instrument.py
index 2a7b6fa083803e649c783fbb5ef4e981f542190d..8b85305fa12639188f2619f86922eb883576d794 100644
--- a/geomagio/processing/copy_instrument.py
+++ b/geomagio/processing/copy_instrument.py
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ def upload_instrument_metadata(
     )
     prior_metadata = factory.get_metadata(query=prior_metadata)
 
-    if prior_metadata is not None:
+    if len(prior_metadata) != 0:
         if len(prior_metadata) > 1:
             print(
                 "More than one matching metadata objects exist, fix database before continuing"