diff --git a/jquery.timeago.js b/jquery.timeago.js
index b4c93f4..b137ea6 100644
--- a/jquery.timeago.js
+++ b/jquery.timeago.js
@@ -96,10 +96,12 @@
       return new Date(s);
     },
     datetime: function(elem) {
-      // jQuery's `is()` doesn't play well with HTML5 in IE
-      var isTime = $(elem).get(0).tagName.toLowerCase() === "time"; // $(elem).is("time");
-      var iso8601 = isTime ? $(elem).attr("datetime") : $(elem).attr("title");
+      var iso8601 = $t.isTime(elem) ? $(elem).attr("datetime") : $(elem).attr("title");
       return $t.parse(iso8601);
+    },
+    isTime: function(elem) {
+      // jQuery's `is()` doesn't play well with HTML5 in IE
+      return $(elem).get(0).tagName.toLowerCase() === "time"; // $(elem).is("time");
     }
   });
 
@@ -127,7 +129,7 @@
     if (!element.data("timeago")) {
       element.data("timeago", { datetime: $t.datetime(element) });
       var text = $.trim(element.text());
-      if (text.length > 0) {
+      if (text.length > 0 && !($t.isTime(element) && element.attr("title"))) {
         element.attr("title", text);
       }
     }
diff --git a/test/index.html b/test/index.html
index 3bf4f95..a215d1c 100644
--- a/test/index.html
+++ b/test/index.html
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@
     <p>Date only (default tooltip): <abbr id="defaultTooltip" class="timeago" title="2008-02-26"> </abbr>.</p>
     <p>Timestsamp (with millis): <abbr class="timeago" title="1978-12-18T17:17:00.021Z">(you shouldn't see this)</abbr>.</p>
 
+    <p><time id="testTimeTitle" class="timeago" datetime="2012-05-07T10:06:02+02:00" title="May 10, 2012 10:06">May 10, 2012</time></p>
+    <p><time id="testTimeTitle2" class="timeago" datetime="2012-05-07T10:06:02+02:00">May 10, 2012</time></p>
+
     <h2>Errors</h2>
 
     <p>Bad (letters): <abbr class="bad timeago" title="bleh">(this should be displayed)</abbr>.</p>
@@ -302,6 +305,14 @@
         ok($("#defaultTooltip").attr("title") == "2008-02-26", "correctly set");
       });
 
+      test("should preserve title in time tags", function () {
+        ok(($("#testTimeTitle").attr('title') === "May 10, 2012 10:06"), "title preserved")
+      });
+
+      test("should set title in time tags without a title", function () {
+        ok(($("#testTimeTitle2").attr('title') === "May 10, 2012"), "title set")
+      });
+
       module("Parsing");
 
       // Note, different browsers behave slightly different