diff --git a/pelican/generators.py b/pelican/generators.py
index 09541191..5a560b05 100644
--- a/pelican/generators.py
+++ b/pelican/generators.py
@@ -554,8 +554,12 @@ class StaticGenerator(Generator):
                     final_path=None):
         """Copy all the paths from source to destination"""
         for path in paths:
-            copy(path, source, os.path.join(output_path, destination),
-                 final_path)
+            if final_path:
+                copy(os.path.join(source, path),
+                     os.path.join(output_path, destination, final_path))
+            else:
+                copy(os.path.join(source, path),
+                     os.path.join(output_path, destination, path))
 
     def generate_context(self):
         self.staticfiles = []
@@ -597,7 +601,7 @@ class SourceFileGenerator(Generator):
         output_path, _ = os.path.splitext(obj.save_as)
         dest = os.path.join(self.output_path,
                             output_path + self.output_extension)
-        copy('', obj.source_path, dest)
+        copy(obj.source_path, dest)
 
     def generate_output(self, writer=None):
         logger.info(' Generating source files...')
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
index a8de7216..f6f96a1c 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -323,6 +323,87 @@ class TestUtils(LoggedTestCase):
         locale.setlocale(locale.LC_TIME, old_locale)
 
 
+class TestCopy(unittest.TestCase):
+    '''Tests the copy utility'''
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.root_dir = mkdtemp(prefix='pelicantests.')
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        shutil.rmtree(self.root_dir)
+
+    def _create_file(self, *path):
+        with open(os.path.join(self.root_dir, *path), 'w') as f:
+            f.write('42\n')
+
+    def _create_dir(self, *path):
+        os.makedirs(os.path.join(self.root_dir, *path))
+
+    def _exist_file(self, *path):
+        path = os.path.join(self.root_dir, *path)
+        self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(path), 'File does not exist: %s' % path)
+
+    def _exist_dir(self, *path):
+        path = os.path.join(self.root_dir, *path)
+        self.assertTrue(os.path.exists(path),
+                        'Directory does not exist: %s' % path)
+
+    def test_copy_file_same_path(self):
+        self._create_file('a.txt')
+        utils.copy(os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'a.txt'),
+                   os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'b.txt'))
+        self._exist_file('b.txt')
+
+    def test_copy_file_different_path(self):
+        self._create_dir('a')
+        self._create_dir('b')
+        self._create_file('a', 'a.txt')
+        utils.copy(os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'a', 'a.txt'),
+                   os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'b', 'b.txt'))
+        self._exist_dir('b')
+        self._exist_file('b', 'b.txt')
+
+    def test_copy_file_create_dirs(self):
+        self._create_file('a.txt')
+        utils.copy(os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'a.txt'),
+                   os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3', 'b.txt'))
+        self._exist_dir('b0')
+        self._exist_dir('b0', 'b1')
+        self._exist_dir('b0', 'b1', 'b2')
+        self._exist_dir('b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3')
+        self._exist_file('b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3', 'b.txt')
+
+    def test_copy_dir_same_path(self):
+        self._create_dir('a')
+        self._create_file('a', 'a.txt')
+        utils.copy(os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'a'),
+                   os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'b'))
+        self._exist_dir('b')
+        self._exist_file('b', 'a.txt')
+
+    def test_copy_dir_different_path(self):
+        self._create_dir('a0')
+        self._create_dir('a0', 'a1')
+        self._create_file('a0', 'a1', 'a.txt')
+        self._create_dir('b0')
+        utils.copy(os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'a0', 'a1'),
+                   os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'b0', 'b1'))
+        self._exist_dir('b0', 'b1')
+        self._exist_file('b0', 'b1', 'a.txt')
+
+    def test_copy_dir_create_dirs(self):
+        self._create_dir('a')
+        self._create_file('a', 'a.txt')
+        utils.copy(os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'a'),
+                   os.path.join(self.root_dir, 'b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3', 'b'))
+        self._exist_dir('b0')
+        self._exist_dir('b0', 'b1')
+        self._exist_dir('b0', 'b1', 'b2')
+        self._exist_dir('b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3')
+        self._exist_dir('b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3', 'b')
+        self._exist_file('b0', 'b1', 'b2', 'b3', 'b', 'a.txt')
+
+
 class TestDateFormatter(unittest.TestCase):
     '''Tests that the output of DateFormatter jinja filter is same as
     utils.strftime'''
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index 4b25ec7f..822e50e9 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -256,24 +256,21 @@ def slugify(value, substitutions=()):
     return value.decode('ascii')
 
 
-def copy(path, source, destination, destination_path=None):
-    """Copy path from origin to destination.
+def copy(source, destination):
+    """Recursively copy source into destination.
+
+    If source is a file, destination has to be a file as well.
 
     The function is able to copy either files or directories.
 
-    :param path: the path to be copied from the source to the destination
-    :param source: the source dir
-    :param destination: the destination dir
-    :param destination_path: the destination path (optional)
+    :param source: the source file or directory
+    :param destination: the destination file or directory
     """
-    if not destination_path:
-        destination_path = path
 
-    source_ = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(os.path.join(source, path)))
-    destination_ = os.path.abspath(
-        os.path.expanduser(os.path.join(destination, destination_path)))
+    source_ = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(source))
+    destination_ = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(destination))
 
-    if not os.path.exists(destination_):
+    if not os.path.exists(destination_) and not os.path.isfile(source_):
         os.makedirs(destination_)
 
     def recurse(source, destination):