diff --git a/src/shogun/base/SGObject.cpp b/src/shogun/base/SGObject.cpp
index d8d88341d9d..8ea913a01b7 100644
--- a/src/shogun/base/SGObject.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/base/SGObject.cpp
@@ -673,14 +673,15 @@ void CSGObject::build_gradient_parameter_dictionary(CMap<TParameter*, CSGObject*
 CSGObject* CSGObject::clone()
 {
 	SG_DEBUG("Constructing an empty instance of %s\n", get_name());
-	CSGObject* copy = create(get_name(), this->m_generic);
-
-	SG_REF(copy);
-
-	REQUIRE(copy, "Could not create empty instance of \"%s\". The reason for "
-			"this usually is that get_name() of the class returns something "
-			"wrong, or that a class has a wrongly set generic type.\n",
-			get_name());
+	CSGObject* copy = create_empty();
+
+	REQUIRE(
+	    copy, "Could not create empty instance of %s. The reason for "
+	          "this usually is that get_name() of the class returns something "
+	          "wrong, that a class has a wrongly set generic type, or that it "
+	          "lies outside the main source tree and does not have "
+	          "CSGObject::create_empty() overridden.\n",
+	    get_name());
 
 	SG_DEBUG("Cloning all parameters of %s\n", get_name());
 	if (!copy->clone_parameters(this))
diff --git a/tests/unit/base/MockObject.h b/tests/unit/base/MockObject.h
index 8c3aad6705e..bd7489c7ec4 100644
--- a/tests/unit/base/MockObject.h
+++ b/tests/unit/base/MockObject.h
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include <shogun/base/Parameter.h>
 #include <shogun/base/SGObject.h>
 #include <shogun/base/range.h>
 #include <shogun/base/some.h>
@@ -77,6 +78,10 @@ namespace shogun
 
 			m_object = new CCloneEqualsMockParameter<T>();
 			watch_param("object", &m_object);
+
+			// TODO: delete once clone is based on tags
+			m_parameters->add(
+			    (CSGObject**)&m_object, "object", "The object (tm)");
 		}
 
 		void free_single()
diff --git a/tests/unit/base/SGObject_unittest.cc b/tests/unit/base/SGObject_unittest.cc
index 3cf6fd32e8c..ebc04acb594 100644
--- a/tests/unit/base/SGObject_unittest.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/base/SGObject_unittest.cc
@@ -30,6 +30,13 @@ template <typename T>
 class SGObjectEquals : public ::testing::Test
 {
 };
+
+// fixture for SGObject::clone tests
+template <typename T>
+class SGObjectClone : public ::testing::Test
+{
+};
+
 // types that go into SGVector<> and co
 // TODO: SGString doesn't support complex128_t, so omitted here
 typedef ::testing::Types<bool, char, int8_t, int16_t, int32_t, int64_t,
@@ -37,10 +44,11 @@ typedef ::testing::Types<bool, char, int8_t, int16_t, int32_t, int64_t,
     SGBasicTypes;
 
 TYPED_TEST_CASE(SGObjectEquals, SGBasicTypes);
+TYPED_TEST_CASE(SGObjectClone, SGBasicTypes);
 
 TYPED_TEST(SGObjectEquals, mock_allocate_delete)
 {
-	auto obj = some<CCloneEqualsMock<int32_t>>();
+	auto obj = some<CCloneEqualsMock<TypeParam>>();
 }
 
 TYPED_TEST(SGObjectEquals, same)
@@ -172,7 +180,7 @@ TYPED_TEST(SGObjectEquals, different_raw_matrix_basic)
 	EXPECT_FALSE(obj2->equals(obj1));
 }
 
-TEST(SGObject, equals_different_type)
+TEST(SGObjectEquals, different_type)
 {
 	auto obj1 = some<CCloneEqualsMock<int>>();
 	auto obj2 = some<CCloneEqualsMock<float>>();
@@ -181,6 +189,33 @@ TEST(SGObject, equals_different_type)
 	EXPECT_FALSE(obj2->equals(obj1));
 }
 
+TYPED_TEST(SGObjectClone, basic)
+{
+	auto obj = some<CCloneEqualsMock<TypeParam>>();
+
+	CSGObject* clone = nullptr;
+	try
+	{
+		clone = obj->clone();
+	}
+	catch (...)
+	{
+	}
+
+	EXPECT_NE(clone, obj);
+	ASSERT_NE(clone, nullptr);
+	EXPECT_EQ(clone->ref_count(), 1);
+
+	auto clone_casted = dynamic_cast<CCloneEqualsMock<TypeParam>*>(clone);
+	ASSERT_NE(clone_casted, nullptr);
+	ASSERT_NE(clone_casted->m_object, obj->m_object);
+	EXPECT_EQ(clone_casted->m_object->m_was_cloned, true);
+
+	EXPECT_EQ(std::string(clone->get_name()), std::string(obj->get_name()));
+
+	SG_UNREF(clone);
+}
+
 TEST(SGObject, clone_basic_parameter)
 {
 	auto object = some<CGaussianKernel>();