diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/helpers.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/helpers.go
index 497403a1cb..d58507967f 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/helpers.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/helpers.go
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/runtime"
-	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util/merge"
+
+	"github.com/evanphx/json-patch"
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
@@ -167,7 +168,7 @@ func Merge(dst runtime.Object, fragment, kind string) (runtime.Object, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	patched, err := merge.MergeJSON(target, []byte(fragment))
+	patched, err := jsonpatch.MergePatch(target, []byte(fragment))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/util/merge/merge.go b/pkg/util/merge/merge.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 8b1cbf3c1f..0000000000
--- a/pkg/util/merge/merge.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
-/*
-Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
-
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package merge
-
-import (
-	"encoding/json"
-)
-
-// MergeJSON merges JSON according to RFC7386
-// (see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7386)
-func MergeJSON(dst, src []byte) ([]byte, error) {
-	var target interface{}
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(dst, &target); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	var patch interface{}
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(src, &patch); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return json.Marshal(MergePatch(target, patch))
-}
-
-// MergePatch is an implementation of MergePatch described in RFC7386 that operates on
-// json marshalled into empty interface{} by encoding/json.Unmarshal()
-// (see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7386#section-2)
-func MergePatch(target, patch interface{}) interface{} {
-	if patchObject, isPatchObject := patch.(map[string]interface{}); isPatchObject {
-		targetObject := make(map[string]interface{})
-		if m, isTargetObject := target.(map[string]interface{}); isTargetObject {
-			targetObject = m
-		}
-		for name, value := range patchObject {
-			if _, found := targetObject[name]; value == nil && found {
-				delete(targetObject, name)
-			} else {
-				targetObject[name] = MergePatch(targetObject[name], value)
-			}
-		}
-		return targetObject
-	} else {
-		return patch
-	}
-}
diff --git a/pkg/util/merge/merge_test.go b/pkg/util/merge/merge_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index eb3118bcab..0000000000
--- a/pkg/util/merge/merge_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,68 +0,0 @@
-/*
-Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
-
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package merge
-
-import (
-	"testing"
-)
-
-func TestMergeJSON(t *testing.T) {
-	tests := []struct {
-		target   string
-		patch    string
-		expected string
-	}{
-		{target: `{}`, patch: `{}`, expected: `{}`},
-		{target: `{"a":"b","c":{"d":"e","f":"g"}}`, patch: `{}`, expected: `{"a":"b","c":{"d":"e","f":"g"}}`},
-		//update
-		{target: `{"a":"b","c":"d"}`, patch: `{"a":"z"}`, expected: `{"a":"z","c":"d"}`},
-		//remove key
-		{target: `{"f":"g"}`, patch: `{"f":null}`, expected: `{}`},
-		//inner update
-		{target: `{"c":{"d":"e","f":"g"}}`, patch: `{"c":{"f":"z"}}`, expected: `{"c":{"d":"e","f":"z"}}`},
-		//inner remove
-		{target: `{"c":{"d":"e","f":"g"}}`, patch: `{"c":{"f":null}}`, expected: `{"c":{"d":"e"}}`},
-		//complex update and remove
-		{target: `{"a":"b","c":{"d":"e","f":"g"}}`, patch: `{"a":"z","c":{"f":null}}`, expected: `{"a":"z","c":{"d":"e"}}`},
-		// test cases from https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7386#appendix-A slightly adapted to correspond to go's
-		// encoding/json conventions
-		{target: `{"a":"b"}`, patch: `{"a":"c"}`, expected: `{"a":"c"}`},
-		{target: `{"a":"b"}`, patch: `{"b":"c"}`, expected: `{"a":"b","b":"c"}`},
-		{target: `{"a":"b"}`, patch: `{"a":null}`, expected: `{}`},
-		{target: `{"a":"b","b":"c"}`, patch: `{"a":null}`, expected: `{"b":"c"}`},
-		{target: `{"a":["b"]}`, patch: `{"a":"c"}`, expected: `{"a":"c"}`},
-		{target: `{"a":"c"}`, patch: `{"a":["b"]}`, expected: `{"a":["b"]}`},
-		{target: `{"a":{"b": "c"}}`, patch: `{"a": {"b": "d","c": null}}`, expected: `{"a":{"b":"d","c":null}}`},
-		{target: `{"a":[{"b":"c"}]}`, patch: `{"a":[1]}`, expected: `{"a":[1]}`},
-		{target: `["a","b"]`, patch: `["c","d"]`, expected: `["c","d"]`},
-		{target: `{"a":"b"}`, patch: `["c"]`, expected: `["c"]`},
-		{target: `{"a":"foo"}`, patch: `null`, expected: `null`},
-		{target: `{"a":"foo"}`, patch: `"bar"`, expected: `"bar"`},
-		{target: `{"e":null}`, patch: `{"a":1}`, expected: `{"a":1,"e":null}`},
-		{target: `[1,2]`, patch: `{"a":"b","c":null}`, expected: `{"a":"b","c":null}`},
-		{target: `{}`, patch: `{"a":{"bb":{"ccc":null}}}`, expected: `{"a":{"bb":{"ccc":null}}}`},
-	}
-	for i, test := range tests {
-		out, err := MergeJSON([]byte(test.target), []byte(test.patch))
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Errorf("case %v, unexpected error: %v", i, err)
-		}
-		if string(out) != test.expected {
-			t.Errorf("case %v, expected:\n%v\nsaw:\n%v\n", i, test.expected, string(out))
-		}
-	}
-}