diff --git a/lib/legacy/class.js b/lib/legacy/class.js
index dd178dcde0..c64aec55bf 100644
--- a/lib/legacy/class.js
+++ b/lib/legacy/class.js
@@ -534,10 +534,10 @@ export const Class = function(info, mixin) {
   let klass = mixin ? mixin(LegacyElementMixin(HTMLElement)) :
       LegacyElementMixin(HTMLElement);
   klass = GenerateClassFromInfo(info, klass, info.behaviors);
+  // decorate klass with registration info
+  klass.is = klass.prototype.is = info.is;
   if (legacyOptimizations) {
     klass = DisableUpgradeMixin(klass);
   }
-  // decorate klass with registration info
-  klass.is = klass.prototype.is = info.is;
   return klass;
 };
diff --git a/lib/mixins/element-mixin.js b/lib/mixins/element-mixin.js
index bae008e744..43902b02e3 100644
--- a/lib/mixins/element-mixin.js
+++ b/lib/mixins/element-mixin.js
@@ -411,9 +411,13 @@ export const ElementMixin = dedupingMixin(base => {
     /**
      * Returns the template that will be stamped into this element's shadow root.
      *
-     * If a `static get is()` getter is defined, the default implementation
-     * will return the first `<template>` in a `dom-module` whose `id`
-     * matches this element's `is`.
+     * If a `static get is()` getter is defined, the default implementation will
+     * return the first `<template>` in a `dom-module` whose `id` matches this
+     * element's `is` (note that a `_template` property on the class prototype
+     * takes precedence over the `dom-module` template, to maintain legacy
+     * element semantics; a subclass will subsequently fall back to its super
+     * class template if neither a `prototype._template` or a `dom-module` for
+     * the class's `is` was found).
      *
      * Users may override this getter to return an arbitrary template
      * (in which case the `is` getter is unnecessary). The template returned
@@ -466,7 +470,8 @@ export const ElementMixin = dedupingMixin(base => {
           this.prototype.hasOwnProperty(JSCompiler_renameProperty('_template', this.prototype)) ?
           this.prototype._template :
           // Look in dom-module associated with this element's is
-          (getTemplateFromDomModule(/** @type {PolymerElementConstructor}*/ (this).is) ||
+          ((this.hasOwnProperty(JSCompiler_renameProperty('is', this)) &&
+          (getTemplateFromDomModule(/** @type {PolymerElementConstructor}*/ (this).is))) ||
           // Next look for superclass template (call the super impl this
           // way so that `this` points to the superclass)
           Object.getPrototypeOf(/** @type {PolymerElementConstructor}*/ (this).prototype).constructor.template);