diff --git a/plugins/reporters/freemarker/src/main/kotlin/FreemarkerTemplateProcessor.kt b/plugins/reporters/freemarker/src/main/kotlin/FreemarkerTemplateProcessor.kt
index 11caf7a9895c1..e5bf9f727cbfb 100644
--- a/plugins/reporters/freemarker/src/main/kotlin/FreemarkerTemplateProcessor.kt
+++ b/plugins/reporters/freemarker/src/main/kotlin/FreemarkerTemplateProcessor.kt
@@ -224,13 +224,12 @@ class FreemarkerTemplateProcessor(
         }
 
         /**
-         * Return only those [licenses] that are classified under the given [category], or that are not categorized at
-         * all.
+         * Return only those [licenses] that are classified under the given [category].
          */
         @Suppress("UNUSED") // This function is used in the templates.
         fun filterForCategory(licenses: Collection<ResolvedLicense>, category: String): List<ResolvedLicense> =
             licenses.filter { resolvedLicense ->
-                input.licenseClassifications[resolvedLicense.license]?.contains(category) != false
+                input.licenseClassifications[resolvedLicense.license]?.contains(category) ?: false
             }
 
         /**
diff --git a/plugins/reporters/freemarker/src/test/kotlin/FreeMarkerTemplateProcessorTest.kt b/plugins/reporters/freemarker/src/test/kotlin/FreeMarkerTemplateProcessorTest.kt
index ec1b097ff68cf..43be45d241e15 100644
--- a/plugins/reporters/freemarker/src/test/kotlin/FreeMarkerTemplateProcessorTest.kt
+++ b/plugins/reporters/freemarker/src/test/kotlin/FreeMarkerTemplateProcessorTest.kt
@@ -58,8 +58,12 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.TextLocation
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsInfo
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsType
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.config.LicenseChoices
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.config.OrtConfiguration
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.config.PackageLicenseChoice
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.config.RepositoryConfiguration
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.licenses.LicenseCategorization
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.licenses.LicenseCategory
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.licenses.LicenseClassifications
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.licenses.LicenseInfoResolver
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.licenses.ResolvedLicense
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.licenses.ResolvedLicenseInfo
@@ -585,4 +589,83 @@ class FreeMarkerTemplateProcessorTest : WordSpec({
             helper.getPackage(id) shouldBe Package.EMPTY
         }
     }
+
+    "filterForCategory" should {
+        "correctly filters licenses for the given categories" {
+            val licenseInCatA = ResolvedLicense(
+                license = SpdxSingleLicenseExpression.parse("Apache-2.0"),
+                originalDeclaredLicenses = setOf("Apache-2.0"),
+                originalExpressions = setOf(
+                    ResolvedOriginalExpression(
+                        SpdxSingleLicenseExpression.parse("Apache-2.0"),
+                        LicenseSource.DECLARED
+                    )
+                ),
+                locations = emptySet()
+            )
+
+            val licenseInCatB = ResolvedLicense(
+                license = SpdxSingleLicenseExpression.parse("MIT"),
+                originalDeclaredLicenses = setOf("MIT"),
+                originalExpressions = setOf(
+                    ResolvedOriginalExpression(
+                        SpdxSingleLicenseExpression.parse("MIT"),
+                        LicenseSource.DECLARED
+                    )
+                ),
+                locations = emptySet()
+            )
+
+            val uncategorizedLicense = ResolvedLicense(
+                license = SpdxSingleLicenseExpression.parse("BSD-3-Clause"),
+                originalDeclaredLicenses = setOf("BSD-3-Clause"),
+                originalExpressions = setOf(
+                    ResolvedOriginalExpression(
+                        SpdxSingleLicenseExpression.parse("BSD-3-Clause"),
+                        LicenseSource.DECLARED
+                    )
+                ),
+                locations = emptySet()
+            )
+
+            val allLicenses = listOf(licenseInCatA, licenseInCatB, uncategorizedLicense)
+
+            val licenseClassifications = LicenseClassifications(
+                categories = listOf(LicenseCategory("categoryA"), LicenseCategory("categoryB")),
+                categorizations = listOf(
+                    LicenseCategorization(
+                        id = SpdxSingleLicenseExpression.parse("Apache-2.0"),
+                        categories = setOf("categoryA")
+                    ),
+                    LicenseCategorization(
+                        id = SpdxSingleLicenseExpression.parse("MIT"),
+                        categories = setOf("categoryB")
+                    )
+                )
+            )
+
+            val helper = FreemarkerTemplateProcessor.TemplateHelper(
+                ReporterInput(
+                    ortResult = OrtResult.EMPTY,
+                    ortConfig = OrtConfiguration(),
+                    licenseClassifications = licenseClassifications
+                )
+            )
+
+            val categoryA = helper.filterForCategory(allLicenses, "categoryA")
+            categoryA shouldContainExactlyInAnyOrder listOf(licenseInCatA)
+
+            val categoryB = helper.filterForCategory(allLicenses, "categoryB")
+            categoryB shouldContainExactlyInAnyOrder listOf(licenseInCatB)
+
+            val nonExistentCategory = helper.filterForCategory(allLicenses, "nonExistent")
+            nonExistentCategory shouldBe emptyList()
+
+            val emptyListResult = helper.filterForCategory(emptyList(), "categoryA")
+            emptyListResult shouldBe emptyList()
+
+            val uncategorizedResult = helper.filterForCategory(listOf(uncategorizedLicense), "categoryA")
+            uncategorizedResult shouldContainExactlyInAnyOrder listOf()
+        }
+    }
 })