diff --git a/src/main/java/com/soebes/maven/plugins/iterator/AbstractInvokerMojo.java b/src/main/java/com/soebes/maven/plugins/iterator/AbstractInvokerMojo.java
index 438dab6..c2cc601 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/soebes/maven/plugins/iterator/AbstractInvokerMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/soebes/maven/plugins/iterator/AbstractInvokerMojo.java
@@ -22,9 +22,11 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.apache.maven.plugins.annotations.Parameter;
 import org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject;
@@ -309,7 +311,7 @@ protected InvocationRequest createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest( ItemWithPrope
         // mvn -pl xyz-@item@ clean package
         request.setProjects( getProjectsAfterPlaceHolderIsReplaced( currentValue.getName() ) );
 
-        Properties props = getMergedProperties(currentValue );
+        Properties props = getMergedProperties( currentValue );
         request.setProperties( props );
 
         request.setRecursive( isRecursive() );
@@ -328,10 +330,6 @@ protected InvocationRequest createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest( ItemWithPrope
     private Properties getMergedProperties( ItemWithProperties item ) 
     {
         Properties props = new Properties();
-        if ( getMavenProject().getProperties() != null ) 
-        {
-            props.putAll( getMavenProject().getProperties() );
-        }
         
         if ( getProperties() != null ) 
         {
@@ -343,10 +341,18 @@ private Properties getMergedProperties( ItemWithProperties item )
             props.putAll( item.getProperties() );
         }
         
-        for ( Map.Entry<Object, Object> property : props.entrySet() ) 
+        Set<Object> relevantKeys = new HashSet<>(props.keySet());
+        
+        // Simply adding all project properties can cause issues with the command line character limit
+        // Thus only explicitly "activated" properties are added (plugin, item and relevant system-properties)
+        if ( getMavenProject().getProperties() != null ) 
+        {
+            relevantKeys.addAll( getMavenProject().getProperties().keySet() );
+        }
+                
+        for ( Object key : relevantKeys ) 
         {
-            String key = (String) property.getKey();
-            String systemPropertyValue = System.getProperty( key );
+            String systemPropertyValue = System.getProperty( (String) key );
 
             if ( systemPropertyValue != null ) 
             {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/soebes/maven/plugins/iterator/AbstractInvokerMojoTest.java b/src/test/java/com/soebes/maven/plugins/iterator/AbstractInvokerMojoTest.java
index 28e888e..79b53e9 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/soebes/maven/plugins/iterator/AbstractInvokerMojoTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/soebes/maven/plugins/iterator/AbstractInvokerMojoTest.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
 import org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject;
 
@@ -39,7 +38,8 @@
  */
 public class AbstractInvokerMojoTest
 {
-
+    private static final String PROPERTY_KEY = "prop-key";
+        
     private AbstractInvokerMojo mock;
 
     @BeforeMethod
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ public void beforeMethod()
         mock.setEndToken( "@" );
         mock.setMavenProject(new MavenProject());
         mock.setProperties(new Properties());
+        
+        System.getProperties().remove(PROPERTY_KEY);
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -137,9 +139,32 @@ public void shouldReplaceInMultipleProjects()
     }
     
     @Test
-    public void shouldAddProjectProperties()
+    public void shouldNotAddAllProjectProperties()
+    {
+        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value1" );
+        
+        ItemWithProperties prop = new ItemWithProperties( "item" , ItemWithProperties.NO_PROPERTIES );
+        InvocationRequest createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest = mock.createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest( prop );
+        
+        assertThat( createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest.getProperties().entrySet() ).isEmpty();
+    }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void shouldNotAddAllSystemProperties()
+    {
+        System.getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value1" );
+        
+        ItemWithProperties prop = new ItemWithProperties( "item" , ItemWithProperties.NO_PROPERTIES );
+        InvocationRequest createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest = mock.createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest( prop );
+        
+        assertThat( createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest.getProperties().entrySet() ).isEmpty();
+    }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void shouldAddSystemPropertyAlsoDefinedAsProjectProperty()
     {
-        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put( "prop1", "value1" );
+        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value1" );
+        System.getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value2" );
         
         ItemWithProperties prop = new ItemWithProperties( "item" , ItemWithProperties.NO_PROPERTIES );
         InvocationRequest createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest = mock.createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest( prop );
@@ -147,14 +172,14 @@ public void shouldAddProjectProperties()
         assertThat( createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest.getProperties().entrySet() )
                 .hasSize( 1 )
                 .extracting( "key", "value" )
-                .containsExactly(Tuple.tuple( "prop1", "value1" ));
+                .containsExactly(Tuple.tuple(PROPERTY_KEY, "value2" ));
     }
     
     @Test
     public void shouldAddPluginProperties()
     {
-        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put( "prop1", "value1" );
-        mock.getProperties().put( "prop1", "value2" );
+        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value1" );
+        mock.getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value2" );
         
         ItemWithProperties prop = new ItemWithProperties( "item" , ItemWithProperties.NO_PROPERTIES );
         InvocationRequest createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest = mock.createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest( prop );
@@ -162,16 +187,16 @@ public void shouldAddPluginProperties()
         assertThat( createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest.getProperties().entrySet() )
                 .hasSize( 1 )
                 .extracting( "key", "value" )
-                .containsExactly(Tuple.tuple( "prop1", "value2" ));
+                .containsExactly(Tuple.tuple(PROPERTY_KEY, "value2" ));
     }
 
     @Test
     public void shouldAddItemProperties()
     {
-        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put( "prop1", "value1" );
-        mock.getProperties().put( "prop1", "value2" );
+        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value1" );
+        mock.getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value2" );
         Properties itemProperties = new Properties();
-        itemProperties.put( "prop1", "value3" );
+        itemProperties.put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value3" );
         
         ItemWithProperties prop = new ItemWithProperties( "item" , itemProperties );
         InvocationRequest createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest = mock.createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest( prop );
@@ -179,17 +204,17 @@ public void shouldAddItemProperties()
         assertThat( createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest.getProperties().entrySet() )
                 .hasSize( 1 )
                 .extracting( "key", "value" )
-                .containsExactly(Tuple.tuple( "prop1", "value3" ));
+                .containsExactly(Tuple.tuple(PROPERTY_KEY, "value3" ));
     }
     
     @Test
     public void shouldAddSystemProperties()
     {
-        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put( "prop1", "value1" );
-        mock.getProperties().put( "prop1", "value2" );
+        mock.getMavenProject().getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value1" );
+        mock.getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value2" );
         Properties itemProperties = new Properties();
-        itemProperties.put( "prop1", "value3" );
-        System.getProperties().put( "prop1", "value4" );
+        itemProperties.put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value3" );
+        System.getProperties().put(PROPERTY_KEY, "value4" );
         
         ItemWithProperties prop = new ItemWithProperties( "item" , itemProperties );
         InvocationRequest createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest = mock.createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest( prop );
@@ -197,6 +222,6 @@ public void shouldAddSystemProperties()
         assertThat( createAndConfigureAnInvocationRequest.getProperties().entrySet() )
                 .hasSize( 1 )
                 .extracting( "key", "value" )
-                .containsExactly(Tuple.tuple( "prop1", "value4" ));
+                .containsExactly(Tuple.tuple(PROPERTY_KEY, "value4" ));
     }
 }