diff -r 359baebcf0e8 -r fc40924ac59b whois/whois.py
--- a/whois/whois.py	Wed Mar 16 15:18:36 2016 +0100
+++ b/whois/whois.py	Thu Mar 17 15:37:34 2016 +0100
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
             return ''
         else:
             nhost = None
-            response = response.decode('utf-8')
+            response = response.decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
             if b'with "=xxx"' in response:
                 return self.whois(query, hostname, flags, True)
             if flags & NICClient.WHOIS_RECURSE and nhost is None: