Ah I assumed you were using the pojo notification framework. Yeah this is by design. Any mutable object that is serializable will have visible changes since the object isn't serialized until the transaction commits. So a cache listener will only see identity changes, and not a true state change. Assuming that remote pojo notifications worked, what information are you missing? I plan to fix all notification issues (including remote delivery) by GA, so if the design is missing something you need I would like to know. If you can't wait, and need to implement your own solution I understand, but do keep in mind that the internal structure isn't considered public, so it may change in the future. Why do you need to know if an object is multiply referenced? Regarding your change, a safer solution would be to add whatever information you need as independent internal properties. Also, everyone has access to our anonymous cvs server: | cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@anoncvs.forge.jboss.com:/cvsroot/jboss login | (hit enter for password) | cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@anoncvs.forge.jboss.com:/cvsroot/jboss co JBossCache | -Jason View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4036066#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...