Index: src/core/org/apache/jmeter/gui/action/Copy.java
===================================================================
--- src/core/org/apache/jmeter/gui/action/Copy.java	(revision 1197485)
+++ src/core/org/apache/jmeter/gui/action/Copy.java	(working copy)
@@ -23,24 +23,29 @@
  */
 package org.apache.jmeter.gui.action;
 
+import java.awt.Toolkit;
+import java.awt.datatransfer.Clipboard;
 import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
 import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 
+import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
+
 import org.apache.jmeter.gui.GuiPackage;
 import org.apache.jmeter.gui.tree.JMeterTreeListener;
 import org.apache.jmeter.gui.tree.JMeterTreeNode;
 import org.apache.jmeter.testelement.TestElement;
+import org.apache.jmeter.util.JMeterTreeNodeTransferable;
+import org.apache.jmeter.util.JMeterUtils;
 
 /**
  * Implements the Copy menu command
  */
 public class Copy extends AbstractAction {
+    
     private static JMeterTreeNode copiedNode = null;
 
-    private static JMeterTreeNode copiedNodes[] = null;
-
     private static final HashSet<String> commands = new HashSet<String>();
 
     static {
@@ -63,15 +68,15 @@
     }
 
     public static JMeterTreeNode[] getCopiedNodes() {
-        if (copiedNodes == null) { // can be null if Copy has yet to be used
-            return null;
-        }
-        for (int i = 0; i < copiedNodes.length; i++) {
-            if (copiedNodes[i] == null) {
-                return null;
+        Clipboard clipboard = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
+        if(clipboard.isDataFlavorAvailable(JMeterTreeNodeTransferable.JMETER_TREE_NODE_ARRAY_DATA_FLAVOR)) {
+            try {
+                return (JMeterTreeNode[]) clipboard.getData(JMeterTreeNodeTransferable.JMETER_TREE_NODE_ARRAY_DATA_FLAVOR);
+            } catch (Exception ex) {
+                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(GuiPackage.getInstance().getMainFrame(), JMeterUtils.getResString("clipboard_node_read_error")+":\n" + ex.getLocalizedMessage(), JMeterUtils.getResString("error_title"), JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
             }
         }
-        return cloneTreeNodes(copiedNodes);
+        return null;
     }
 
     public static JMeterTreeNode getCopiedNode() {
@@ -93,9 +98,13 @@
     }
 
     public static void setCopiedNodes(JMeterTreeNode nodes[]) {
-        copiedNodes = new JMeterTreeNode[nodes.length];
-        for (int i = 0; i < nodes.length; i++) {
-            copiedNodes[i] = cloneTreeNode(nodes[i]);
+        Clipboard clipboard = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
+        try {
+            JMeterTreeNodeTransferable transferable = new JMeterTreeNodeTransferable();
+            transferable.setTransferData(nodes);
+            clipboard.setContents(transferable, null);
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(GuiPackage.getInstance().getMainFrame(), JMeterUtils.getResString("clipboard_node_read_error")+":\n" + ex.getLocalizedMessage(), JMeterUtils.getResString("error_title"), JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
         }
     }
 
Index: src/core/org/apache/jmeter/resources/messages.properties
===================================================================
--- src/core/org/apache/jmeter/resources/messages.properties	(revision 1197485)
+++ src/core/org/apache/jmeter/resources/messages.properties	(working copy)
@@ -125,6 +125,8 @@
 clear_all=Clear All
 clear_cache_per_iter=Clear cache each iteration?
 clear_cookies_per_iter=Clear cookies each iteration?
+clipboard_node_read_error=Error retrieving nodes from clipboard
+clipboard_node_write_error=Error coping nodes to clipboard
 column_delete_disallowed=Deleting this column is not permitted
 column_number=Column number of CSV file | next | *alias
 compare=Compare
Index: src/core/org/apache/jmeter/util/JMeterTreeNodeTransferable.java
===================================================================
--- src/core/org/apache/jmeter/util/JMeterTreeNodeTransferable.java	(revision 0)
+++ src/core/org/apache/jmeter/util/JMeterTreeNodeTransferable.java	(revision 0)
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+package org.apache.jmeter.util;
+
+import java.awt.datatransfer.DataFlavor;
+import java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable;
+import java.awt.datatransfer.UnsupportedFlavorException;
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.ObjectInput;
+import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
+
+import org.apache.jmeter.gui.tree.JMeterTreeNode;
+
+/**
+ * Simple implementation of a transferable for {@link JMeterTreeNode} arrays based on serialization.
+ */
+public class JMeterTreeNodeTransferable implements Transferable {
+    
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = 192L;
+    
+    public final static DataFlavor JMETER_TREE_NODE_ARRAY_DATA_FLAVOR = new DataFlavor(JMeterTreeNode[].class, JMeterTreeNode[].class.getName());
+    
+    private final static DataFlavor[] DATA_FLAVORS = new DataFlavor[]{JMETER_TREE_NODE_ARRAY_DATA_FLAVOR};
+    
+    private byte[] data = null;
+
+    @Override
+    public DataFlavor[] getTransferDataFlavors() {
+        return DATA_FLAVORS;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isDataFlavorSupported(DataFlavor flavor) {
+        return flavor.match(JMETER_TREE_NODE_ARRAY_DATA_FLAVOR);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Object getTransferData(DataFlavor flavor) throws UnsupportedFlavorException, IOException {
+        if(!isDataFlavorSupported(flavor)) {
+            throw new UnsupportedFlavorException(flavor);
+        }
+        if(data != null) {
+            ByteArrayInputStream bis = new ByteArrayInputStream(data);
+            ObjectInput ois = new ObjectInputStream(bis);
+            try {
+                JMeterTreeNode[] nodes = (JMeterTreeNode[]) ois.readObject();
+                return nodes;
+            } catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {
+                throw new IOException("Failed to read object stream.", cnfe);
+            } finally {
+                ois.close();
+                bis.close();
+            }
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+    
+    public void setTransferData(JMeterTreeNode[] nodes) throws IOException {
+        ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(bos);
+        oos.writeObject(nodes);
+        oos.close();
+        bos.close();
+        data = bos.toByteArray();
+    }
+
+}