diff --git a/include/boost/smart_ptr/detail/sp_forward.hpp b/include/boost/smart_ptr/detail/sp_forward.hpp
index 5f1d190..3372665 100644
--- a/include/boost/smart_ptr/detail/sp_forward.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/smart_ptr/detail/sp_forward.hpp
@@ -25,6 +25,17 @@ namespace detail
 
 #if !defined( BOOST_NO_CXX11_RVALUE_REFERENCES )
 
+#if defined( __GNUC__ ) && __GNUC__ * 100 + __GNUC_MINOR__ <= 404
+
+// GCC 4.4 supports an outdated version of rvalue references and creates a copy of the forwarded object.
+// This results in warnings 'returning reference to temporary'. Therefore we use a special version similar to std::forward.
+template< class T > T&& sp_forward( T && t ) BOOST_NOEXCEPT
+{
+    return t;
+}
+
+#else
+
 template< class T > T&& sp_forward( T & t ) BOOST_NOEXCEPT
 {
     return static_cast< T&& >( t );
@@ -32,6 +43,8 @@ template< class T > T&& sp_forward( T & t ) BOOST_NOEXCEPT
 
 #endif
 
+#endif
+
 } // namespace detail
 
 } // namespace boost