Index: applications/editors/josm/plugins/wmsplugin/src/wmsplugin/WMSLayer.java
===================================================================
--- applications/editors/josm/plugins/wmsplugin/src/wmsplugin/WMSLayer.java	(revision 17704)
+++ applications/editors/josm/plugins/wmsplugin/src/wmsplugin/WMSLayer.java	(revision 17817)
@@ -79,5 +79,5 @@
 		super(name);
 		alphaChannel.setSelected(Main.pref.getBoolean("wmsplugin.alpha_channel"));
-		background = true; /* set global background variable */
+		setBackgroundLayer(true); /* set global background variable */ 
 		initializeImages();
 		this.baseURL = baseURL;