diff --git a/flask/_compat.py b/flask/_compat.py
index eaf42ea2..0cd3b8e0 100644
--- a/flask/_compat.py
+++ b/flask/_compat.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import sys
 
 PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
 
-PY3.6 = sys.version_info[0] == 3 and sys.version_info[1] == 6
+PY36 = sys.version_info[0] == 3 and sys.version_info[1] == 6
 
 _identity = lambda x: x
 
diff --git a/flask/json.py b/flask/json.py
index 6690de34..3583c624 100644
--- a/flask/json.py
+++ b/flask/json.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import io
 import uuid
 from datetime import date
 from .globals import current_app, request
-from ._compat import text_type, PY2, PY3.6
+from ._compat import text_type, PY2, PY36
 from .ctx import has_request_context
 
 from werkzeug.http import http_date
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ def loads(s, **kwargs):
     application on the stack.
     """
     _load_arg_defaults(kwargs)
-    if not PY3.6:
+    if not PY36:
         if isinstance(s, bytes):
             s = s.decode(kwargs.pop('encoding', None) or 'utf-8')
     return _json.loads(s, **kwargs)