diff --git a/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp/start_time_context.go b/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp/start_time_context.go
index 19631bff4c2..9476ef01b01 100644
--- a/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp/start_time_context.go
+++ b/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp/start_time_context.go
@@ -27,5 +27,3 @@ func StartTimeFromContext(ctx context.Context) time.Time {
 	t, _ := ctx.Value(startTimeContextKey).(time.Time)
 	return t
 }
-
-var zeroTime time.Time